�90,000 payout to MMR boy but experts insist jab is safe

�90,000 payout to MMR boy but experts insist jab is safe

By Richard Palmer

THE MMR vaccine is still safe despite a landmark £90,000 compensation payout to parents whose son was left brain ­damaged after the jab, the Department of Health insisted yesterday.

A medical assessment panel awarded the payment to Jackie and John Fletcher after concluding their son was left severely disabled by the mumps, ­measles and rubella jab at 13 months old.

Robert, now 18, has epileptic fits, is unable to talk, stand unaided or feed himself, but is not autistic.

Mr and Mrs Fletcher successfully appealed after their application for compensation under the Government’s Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme was rejected in 1997.

Their original claim failed on the grounds that it was impossible to prove beyond reasonable doubt what had caused Robert’s illness.

But that was overturned last week by a panel of two doctors and a barrister who ruled that on the balance of probabilities Robert’s first epileptic fit – which was 10 days after the jab – was triggered by the vaccine.

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Free school milk: the white stuff might not be the right stuff - Telegraph

From Winston Churchill’s wartime order to keep the milk flowing, which was formalised under the 1946 School Milk Act, to Gordon Ramsay’s scowling demand on posters currently adorning London’s buses to “Make Mine Milk”, the idea that it is natural, healthy and an essential part of a good diet has been unchallenged.

On the contrary there are strong arguments that giving cow’s milk to children is doing more harm than good. All of the nutrients in cow’s milk can be found elsewhere in a balanced diet. Although it is frequently cited as an important source of calcium for growing children, we can absorb only a third of the amount it contains due to the high levels of sodium, phosphorus and protein that are also present. Green vegetables – if children can be persuaded to eat them – are a much more efficient vehicle.

And while milk may be an easier sell to your offspring than Brussels sprouts, of more concern is the increasing evidence that cow’s milk can have negative side-effects, particularly if consumed at an early age. Many children who regularly drink milk – about 7.5 per cent of the child population – suffer from allergies that often go undiagnosed.

Besides the hormones and contaminants that saturate our homogenised milk, there are more than 30 protein types to which our bodies may react, which can manifest as eczema, constipation, drawn-out colds or frequent ear infections. Increasing numbers of paediatricians advocate trying cow’s milk-free diets to tackle such common symptoms. This is before you consider the 5 per cent of Britons – usually from ethnic minorities – who are lactose-intolerant. Once again, many do not recognise their affliction, and needlessly suffer conditions such as cramping and intestinal gas.

There are also suggestions that milk could be linked to diabetes. Finland, for example, has the highest incidence of Type 1 (that is, insulin-dependent) diabetes in the world – and the highest per capita milk consumption. In China and South-East Asia, where little milk is consumed due to the extremely high prevalence of lactose intolerance, this early-onset form of the disease is nearly non-existent.

Professor Outi Vaarala, a scientist at the University of Helsinki, has been studying this link for 20 years. She believes that the body develops antibodies against the presence of bovine insulin, which then shut down human insulin production – something infants are particularly prone to, as the intestinal wall is not sufficiently developed to prevent the cow hormone entering the bloodstream.

A pilot study has supported her hypothesis, but firmer results won’t appear until 2013.

Of course, this is just one of several theories that attempt to explain the apparent link – and although it would explain why infants weaned off breast milk too early seem to suffer higher risks of diabetes, it is more difficult to understand the frequent later development of the condition in young, milk-swilling children. If Prof Vaarala is right, something must have weakened the intestinal wall.

Cow’s milk has also been linked to Type 2 (adult-onset) diabetes, for the same reason that it is associated with heart disease – the sheer amount of energy in the liquid. Given that milk is designed to double a calf’s birth weight in 47 days – compared with the 180 it takes humans – it is unsurprising that it contains more protein than we require. Even in low-fat milk, there are relatively high levels of cholesterol and saturated fat. As the nutritionist Joseph Keon notes in his forthcoming book Whitewash, the fat in semi-skimmed milk could make up 2 per cent of the weight, but 34 per cent of the calories.

Ultimately, the evidence that cow’s milk will harm your health is still inconclusive – although arguably no more so than the dairy industry’s claims for its bone-strengthening, cancer-defeating capabilities. But before we give its producers carte blanche to provide nursery children with 100 pints of the white stuff a year, consider this: no other species in nature regularly consumes another’s milk. Faced with these concerns, we might ask if we really need to do so.

Free school milk: the white stuff might not be the right stuff - Telegraph

'Unbeatable' NDM-1 enzyme could make all bacterial diseases 'superbugs' | Mail Online

By JENNY HOPE
Last updated at 7:20 PM on 11th August 2010

• Gene makes bacteria resistant to almost all antibiotics
• Patients brought enzyme back from India and Pakistan
  

The NHS is on red alert to detect a 'superbug' resistant to the most powerful antibiotics which has been imported from India by health tourists.

There are fears that without vigilance a new gene that allows any bacteria to become a superbug could become widespread in NHS hospitals.

It has infected around 50 Britons so far, many of whom returned to the UK after undergoing surgery in India or Pakistan.

The Health Protection Agency (HPA) yest (wed) stepped up its warnings about the new gene called NDM-1, or New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamose after the place where it was first identified.

Dr David Livermore, director of antibiotic resistance monitoring at HPA, said resistance to one of the major groups of antibiotics, the carbapenems, is found throughout India.

'This is important because carbapenems were often the last 'good' antibiotics active against bacteria that already were more resistant to more standard drugs.

The spread of the enzyme that makes any bug 'super'

Rising levels of antibiotic resistance are a threat because there are few new drugs in the pipeline.

Infection experts are alarmed about the spread of multi-drug resistance facilitated by the gene NDM-1 that can easily jump from one strain of bacteria to another.

If it ends up in a bacterium which is already resistant to many other antibiotics then it could produce infections that are almost impossible to treat.

NDM-1-producing bacteria are resistant to many existing antibiotics including carbapenems - a class of drugs often reserved for emergency use and 'last resort' treatment.

So far two types of bacteria have been host to NDM-1 - the gut bug E.coli and another that can invade the lungs called Klebsiella pneumonia.

Both can lead to urinary tract infections and blood poisoning.

E.coli is among a group of 'gram-negative' bugs, and the proportion of antibiotic-resistant cases of E.coli infection has trebled since the turn of the century.

There are about 20,000 E.coli bloodstream infections each year in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, of which more than one in ten is resistant to antibiotics.

There are just two antibiotics in the pipeline against this group of infections.
This compares with several new medications for gram-positive infections like MRSA.

Figures suggest it costs between
£500 million to £1 billion to bring new drugs to market.

GSK, one of a handful of giant pharmaceutial firms actively investing in antibiotic research, said: 'New antibiotics that work in different ways to existing medicines are desperately needed to tackle the rising incidence of antibiotics resistance.'

'We have now also identified bacteria with this type of resistance - NDM - in around 50 patients in the UK.

'Most not all, had previously travelled to the Indian subcontinent and many had received hospital treatment there.

'International travel gives a great potential for spread of resistant bacteria between countries.

'Few antibiotics remain active against these bacteria.Their spread underscores the need for good infection control in hospitals both in the UK and overseas, and the need for new antibiotic development.'

The HPA flagged up the problem last year but renewed its warnings after a study in journal The Lancet Infectious Diseases tracked the emergence of the 'superbug' gene in different countries.

The researchers found NDM-1 is becoming more common in Bangladesh, India and Pakistan and is starting to be imported back to Britain in patients returning from these countries.

Several of the British NDM-1 positive patients had recently travelled to the Indian subcontinent for hospital treatment including cosmetic surgery.

Timothy Walsh, professor of medical microbiology and antimicrobial resistance at Cardiff University, who led the study, said it was a 'real concern'.

'Because of medical tourism and international travel in general, resistance to these types of bacteria has the potential to tavel around the world very, very quickly.'

He said there are few drugs in development that can potentially combat the threat.

The resistant gene has also been detected in Australia, Canada, the US, the Netherlands and Sweden.

The NDM-1 gene alters bacteria, making them resistant to nearly all known antibiotics.

It has been largely found in E. coli bacteria, the most common cause of urinary tract infections, and on DNA structures that can be easily copied and passed onto other types of bacteria.

The researchers said the superbug gene appeared to be already circulating widely in India, where the health system is much less likely to identify its presence or have adequate antibiotics to treat patients.

Christopher Thomas, professor of molecular genetics at the University of Birmingham who was not linked to the study, said 'We are potentially at the beginning of another wave of antibiotic resistance, though we still have the power to stop it.'

Prof Thomas said better surveillance and infection control procedures might halt the gene's spread.

Although patients in British hospitals are unlikely to encounter the superbug gene, they should remain vigilant about standard hygiene measures like properly washing their hands, he added.

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superbug

'The spread of these multi-resistant bacteria merits very close monitoring' wrote Johann Pitout of the division of microbiology at the University of Calgary, Canada, in an accompanying Lancet commentary.

He called for international surveillance of the bacteria, particularly in countries that actively promote medical tourism.

'The consequences will be serious if family doctors have to treat infections caused by these multi-resistant bacteria on a daily basis' he added.

The Department of Health spokesman said 'We are working with the Health Protection Agency. The HPA alerted the NHS in January and July lst year to be vigilant about these bacteria and take appropriate action where necessary.

'Hospitals need to ensure they continue to provide good infection control to prevent any spread, consider whether patients have recently been treated abroad and send samples to the HPA for testing.'

New Dehli-Metallo-1, seen under the microscope could be untreatable for as long 10 years while scientists devise the right kind of antibiotics

Trusts to miss targets due to financial pressure

Financial pressures could see a quarter of leading hospitals at risk of breaching key health targets.

Annual plans submitted to the NHS regulator show that more than 20 foundation trusts say they may be unable to meet standards for cancer services.

Eleven have raised concerns over meeting targets in fighting superbugs, while three mental health trusts have flagged concerns over care delivery. The alerts are highlighted in yearly plans submitted to the regulator Monitor.

Its chief executive Steve Bundred said the regulator was forcing increased discipline on foundation trusts to improve planning and minimise risks to services.

He said trusts were showing 'a welcome dose of realism'.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1302035/Unbeatable-NDM-1-enzyme-make-bacterial-diseases-superbugs.html#ixzz0wKVJWnFg

Some 'lies' I heard recently...

So Malays who buy houses at a special discount because the developer is forced to sell it to them at a special discount are entering into a transaction that is not blessed by Islam. This is because it is not a willing transaction. It is a forced transaction.

The developers really have no choice in the matter. When they apply for their licence to build those houses the government would stipulate a clause that a certain percentage of the houses must be reserved for Malay buyers and the houses must be sold to the Malay buyers at a discount. If they do not agree then the developers would not be given permission to build the houses.

So they have no choice but to agree, if they want permission to build the houses. And they will need to price the houses sold to the non-Malay buyers slightly higher to subsidise the discount given to Malay buyers. So they ‘steal’ from the non-Malay buyers to be able to afford the discount given to the Malay buyers.

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The Power of Attraction - Try this!

	SWG1

Author Donald Michael Kraig discusses how simple ideas can help people manifest powerful changes in their lives.

Riker's Sports Day 2010 at Tadika Kreatif Ria

Flu vaccine push already underway; first batch causes seizures in children

As ridiculous as it seems, retailers across the U.S. are already stocking their stores with Christmas goods. It's all about the big commercial push, of course, since retailers make about 50 percent of their profits during the Christmas season.

Similarly, flu vaccine manufacturers generate huge profits during the Christmas season, too, and they've already begun shipping this year's winter season flu vaccines to U.S. pharmacies and hospitals. Never mind the fact that the actual flu strain in the vaccine is little more than a hodgepodge collection of last year's flu strains. Each year's flu vaccines are technically only applicable to last year's flu season, making them perfect for time travelers but useless for everybody else.

Along with the big vaccine push comes the inevitable vaccine propaganda. It's all so predictable: First there's the announcement that "everybody should get vaccinated." This is followed by some later announcement in the pre-Christmas season of "how bad" this year's flu season is getting. This is followed yet again by another urgent bulletin by health authorities urging everyone to get vaccinated.

The big vaccine push only quiets down when vaccine supplies dwindle. But as long asvaccines remain in inventory, the big vaccine push will stay aggressive, and during this annual charade, there won't be a word mentioned about vitamin D and how it is far more effective than any vaccine at protecting people from seasonal flu.

Reading between the vaccine lines

This year's vaccine push has begun with some curious admissions by the vaccine industry, reflected in a Reuters story (http://www.reuters.com/article/idUS...). After the usual explanatory text about how flu vaccine manufacturers have started shipping their largest quantity of vaccines ever produced for flu season, the story prints this curious text:

"And U.S. officials said they were changing the labeling on a vaccine made by Australia's CSL Ltd (CSL.AX) because it appears to have caused a higher than usual rate of seizures in children."

Now hold on a second.

If you read between the lines here, this statement implies that: 1) Vaccines cause seizures in children. And then 2) This particular vaccines causes a higher rate of seizures in children than the usual rate of seizures in children.

Why is this curious? First off, because vaccine pushers have always sworn their vaccines caused no seizures whatsoever. No neurological problems. No spontaneous abortions inpregnant women. No increased rates of autism. Vaccines are all perfectly safe, they say, and no children are ever harmed by them.

That's the mythology, at least, behind vaccines. But the reality is far different: Vaccines do cause seizures in children, and this year's vaccines look like they're going to cause a significantly higher rate of seizures than usual.

Note, by the way, that this was not the headline of the story. This admission was tucked away in the text of a Reuters story, without any real emphasis. If Reuters was really interested in reporting the truth about vaccines, the story headline would have been, "Flu vaccines cause seizures in children."

Line up, sheeple!

The story goes on to say, "The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that everyone be vaccinated against seasonal flu this year."

Yep, everyone. That means one-month old infants. Pregnant women. Children with seizure disorders. Immune suppressed seniors. Everyone!

You see, in years past, vaccines were never recommended for everyone due to well-foundedsafety concerns. In some people, you see, the nearly-dead viral strains used in vaccines can actually cause the very flu they claim to prevent. So the CDC has, for as long as anyone can remember, always warned certain groups to be excluded from vaccines for their own safety.

Well not anymore. Any safety concerns have been thrown out the window in the quest to push more vaccines onto more people. Billions of dollars in pharmaceutical profits are at stake here, and health officials can't afford to let a little safety get in the way.

This Reuters story continues:

"Most years, seasonal influenza infects between 5 percent and 20 percent of the U.S. population and kills 36,000 people. It puts about 200,000 into the hospital."

Well, not really. The 36,000 figure often quoted from the CDC is wildly inaccurate (http://www.naturalnews.com/026169_m...). It's a statistical guess based on such outdated data that to quote it as fact is laughable. Besides, it's technically wrong to say that influenza kills anyone. The real killer here is vitamin D deficiency which causes a stalled out immune system. If people had sufficient levels of vitamin D circulating in their blood, the flu virus would be powerless to harm them. And since there are viruses everywhere in the world around us every single day, isn't it more accurate to say that the "flu season" is actually the "vitamin D deficiency season?"

Think about it: Why does the flu circulate in the winter months in North America, but the summer months (June - August) in Australia? It's because those are the times of weaker sunlightexposure resulting in widespread vitamin D deficiencies. The flu is always around, living amongst us, just waiting for weakened immune systems so it can strike. To say that "the flu" kills people in the winter is factually wrong. It's the vitamin D deficiency that kills people by giving the flu an opportunity to attack a weakened immune system.

This is a simple factual point that the entire system of western medicine, with all its high-IQ doctors, has so far failed to realize. Sometimes it feels like we're still living in the Dark Ages of medicine, I swear...

Where are the clinical trials?

Anyway, this Reuters story continues with one more whopper of a statement:

"The labeling for one vaccine, CSL Limited's Afluria, has undergone changes this season to inform health care providers about an increased incidence of fever and febrile seizure... The FDA said it was asking CSL to conduct a study of its vaccine in children."

Read between the lines on this one: This Afluria vaccine causes an increased risk of seizures, it's being imported into the USA to be injected in children this flu season, and the FDA is just now asking for a study? That means, of course, that no study has been conducted on this vaccine yet.

In other words, this vaccine which causes seizures in children has never actually been properly tested in children according to FDA guidelines, so the FDA wants a test to be done but the vaccine will be injected into children in the USA anyway, even before the testing is likely to be completed.

And that means, of course, that U.S. children are being used as guinea pigs to see what happens to them following this vaccine injection. If enough children have seizures or end up paralyzed or dead, the FDA will probably pull the vaccine off the market. But that only happensafter the fact and after the damage has already been done.

Don't you get it? Your children are the experiment! The American People are the guinea pigs for every vaccine these companies come up with, and it doesn't matter if the vaccine causes seizures, brain damage or even death... American children are going to be injected by the millions in order to find out what happens.

No need for influenza vaccines in anyone

This whole annual charade is utterly useless to begin with. There is simply no medically justifiable need to inject anyone with a flu vaccine -- ever! What people need is vitamin D to activate their immune response so that natural exposures to seasonal flu are easily handled by their existing immune system functionality.

Let's face it: The human immune system is far more intelligent and technologically advanced than any flu vaccine. It already has a pattern recognition system that can identify and destroy foreign invaders in the blood. But as research has shown, when vitamin D levels are deficient in the body, the immune system is effectively paralyzed and can't respond. (http://www.naturalnews.com/029312_i...)

When vitamin D levels are high, the immune system responds rapidly to any influenza threat. That's why I never get a flu shot and even so, I haven't been sick for years. I do, however, get sunshine on a regular basis, and when I can't get sunshine, I take a quality vitamin D3supplement. And guess what? I don't need a flu vaccine at all. I can walk into a room full of sick people infected with influenza and be completely and utterly immune to their coughing, sneezing, nose wiping and finger-licking handshaking.

Having vitamin D in your body is like wearing a bulletproof vest for influenza.

The medical industry won't tell you this because there's huge profit to be made in scaring people into paying for flu shots they don't need. If people were told the truth about the dangers and the ineffectiveness of flu shots, very few would buy them. Because the truth is that, even in best-case scenarios, flu shots are maybe effective at preventing infections in one percent of those who take them.

And that means ninety-nine percent of those receiving flu shots are wasting their time and their money. Plus, they're exposing themselves to chemicals that are obviously dangerous to the human body or else they wouldn't cause seizures in children, get it?

And yet every flu season, people line up by the millions to get injected with something that might harm them, and they actually pay for being potentially harmed! Why do people do this? Because they foolishly trust in health authorities who almost universally have financial ties to the vaccine manufacturing companies and so are pushing a particular agenda in order to profit from vaccine sales.

But scientifically speaking, the flu season could be stopped in its tracks by handing out vitamin D3 supplements instead of vaccine injections. No needles. No seizures. And no drug company profits.

I don't know about you, but I'd rather swallow a vitamin than get jabbed with a sharp needle. But that's just me.

Most other people, it seems, would rather spend their winters wiping their noses raw with Kleenex, drowning themselves in over-the-counter flu medicines and missing a week or two of work while they try to fight off a flu infection they could have prevented with a few vitamin D supplements in the first place.

Believe me, it's a lot more fun to laugh off the flu season and spend your winters healthy, well rested and completely immune to seasonal flu.

http://www.naturalnews.com/029334_flu_vaccines_seizures.html

China threatens world health by unleashing waves of superbugs - Telegraph

China threatens world health by unleashing waves of superbugs

China's reckless use of antibiotics in the health system and agricultural production is unleashing an explosion of drug resistant superbugs that endanger global health, according to leading scientists.

By Peter Foster in Beijing
Published: 6:25PM GMT 05 Feb 2010

Data from Chinese hospitals shows a very frightening picture of high-level antibiotic resistance Photo: PHOTOSHOT

Chinese doctors routinely hand out multiple doses of antibiotics for simple maladies like the sore throats and the country's farmers excessive dependence on the drugs has tainted the food chain.

Studies in China show a "frightening" increase in antibiotic-resistant bacteria such as staphylococcus aureus bacteria, also know as MRSA . There are warnings that new strains of antibiotic-resistant bugs will spread quickly through international air travel and internation food sourcing.

"We have a lot of data from Chinese hospitals and it shows a very frightening picture of high-level antibiotic resistance," said Dr Andreas Heddini of the Swedish Institute for Infectious Disease Control.

"Doctors are daily finding there is nothing they can do, even third and fourth-line antibiotics are not working.

"There is a real risk that globally we will return to a pre-antibiotic era of medicine, where we face a situation where a number of medical treatment options would no longer be there. What happens in China matters for the rest of the world."

Particular alarm has been raised by resistance rates of MRSA in Chinese hospitals, which has more than doubled from 30 per cent to 70 per cent, according to Professor Xiao Yonghong of the Institute of Clinical Pharmacology at Beijing University.

Last year researchers found a new strain of MRSA in Chinese pigs imported into Hong Kong and called for urgent new studies into its potential to infect humans after an infection of the new strain was confirmed in Guangzhou, where many of the pigs were farmed.

A Beijing-based health expert with access to unpublished surveys showed that the situation in China was actually worse earlier studies had indicated.

"The Chinese Ministry of Health has all the data," the expert warned, "but they seem unable or unwilling to believe it. The situation has global implications and is highly disturbing."

The Chinese Ministry of Health failed to respond to requests for an interview or information by phone, email and fax over a three-day period.

New prescription guidelines to restrict antibiotic use being issued by the Chinese Ministry of Health in 2004.

"The guidelines are not being followed effectively," added Professor Xiao, "over just the last five years, for example, our studies show the rate antibiotic-resistant E.coli has quadrupled from 10 per cent to 40 per cent."

Public health experts say the rampant over-use of antibiotics in China is primarily caused by China's under-funded healthcare system where hospitals derive up to half of their operating income from selling drugs. In some cities, such as Chongqing, almost half of all drugs sold are antibiotics.

"In Chinese hospitals our data shows that 60 per cent of in-patients are being prescribed antibiotics compared with the WHO guideline of 30 per cent," added Professor Xiao who also heads China's National Antibiotic Resistance Investigation Network.

China's State Food and Drug Administration bans the sale of antibiotics without prescription but a survey by the The Daily Telegraph found the drugs were still easily obtainable over-the-counter.

Three out of five chemists agreed to sell antibiotics after a cursory consultation with the 'patient' who complained of a sore throat.

At one outlet a pharmacist handed over a course of the second-generation antibiotic, Cefuroxime Axetil, with minimal hesitation.

Asked if the sale could "get her into trouble" she said that the pharmacy would get a doctor to write the prescription later to cover their sales records. She added that even doctors from the nearby Capital Institute of Pediatrics came to buy antibiotics without prescription.

"When the surveillance is strict, we won't risk selling antibiotics," Ms Zhang added. Asked to elaborate, she explained, "For example during the 2008 Olympic Games period, we didn't sell them".

China threatens world health by unleashing waves of superbugs - Telegraph