The Medical Freedom Channel

“Would consumers get the same warm, fuzzy message from a drug advertisement that promised to lift their mood if it also urged them to report side effects like suicidal thoughts and diarrhea? Under a proposal regulators will consider Friday, that buyer-be-vigilant message would have to accompany the rosy messages of pharmaceutical promotions. The Food and Drug Administration is considering requiring TV drug advertisements to carry a toll-free number where patients can report serious problems with their medication. The FDA will consult a panel of outside communication experts Friday about whether displaying that language could distract viewers from other important information.” (05/15/08)

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24652131/

“Unsustainable growth in the Canadian government’s spending on health is a result of the flawed design of government health and drug insurance programs, not the price of medical treatment or the introduction of new medical technologies like patented drugs, concludes a new study by the Fraser Institute. Prescription drugs in general and patented drugs in particular account for a small percentage of government health spending. The fact that government spending on all other areas of health care is growing at unsustainable rates, while accounting for more than 90 per cent of total government health spending, strongly suggests that targeting prescription drugs is misguided, says study author Brett Skinner.” (05/15/08)

http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_ID=16552

“Two of the state’s largest health plans agreed today to reinstate nearly 1,200 patients whose health coverage the insurers dropped after the individuals incurred high medical expenses. Under the deal, patients whose coverage was rescinded by Kaiser Permanente or Health Net since 2004 will be allowed to purchase new insurance regardless of preexisting medical conditions. The settlement, brokered by the California Department of Managed Health Care, comes three months after a Gardena hair salon owner won an unprecedented $9-million judgment against Health Net for canceling her coverage while she was in the midst of undergoing chemotherapy.” (05/15/08)

http://tinyurl.com/3fzke2

“Hayden Hamilton never planned to go into the business of selling pharmaceuticals. But when his brother and aunt lost their jobs and health insurance, and a close friend was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s disease, he began a quest for affordable drugs. While traveling with his friend to Asia to search for treatments, Hamilton discovered he could buy low-cost drugs made in plants certified by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and send them to his family members. When he learned that India had the greatest number of FDA-approved manufacturing plants outside the United States, the seed of an idea was born.” (05/15/08)

http://tinyurl.com/4o3wpg

“A set of scientific studies probing the health effects and stability of a calorie-free natural sweetener that Cargill Inc. and Coca-Cola Co. aim to market are expected to be published Thursday, offering evidence of its safety, according to people familiar with the research. The findings were funded by Cargill and are being published online in the journal Food and Chemical Toxicology. The results could put the two companies one step closer toward gaining U.S. regulatory approval for their sweetener, which is derived from the South American herb stevia. The companies hope the sweetener, which bears the brand name Truvia and the common name rebiana, will give them a lock on the ‘holy grail’ of sweeteners: one that sweetens foods and beverages naturally, has no calories and tastes good.” [editor’s note: We know people who’ve been carrying packets of Stevia for their coffee for years now; no noticeable side-effects as yet - SAT] (05/15/08)

http://tinyurl.com/4kbwhk

“Actor Dennis Quaid urged the U.S. Congress on Wednesday to preserve patients’ rights to sue drugmakers for injuries, recounting how his newborn twins nearly died from an accidental drug overdose. Quaid and his wife have sued Baxter International Inc, the maker of the blood-thinning drug given to his twins in a hospital last year. The couple argued that the product was stored in bottles with confusing labels that contributed to the overdose and should have been recalled after three other infants died from a mix-up. At a congressional hearing, the actor said victims of harm from medicines should be able to seek damages from manufacturers in state court.” (05/14/08)

http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSN1453209520080514

“The number of Americans with insurance plans tied to health savings accounts has passed the 6 million mark, according to America’s Health Insurance Plans. HSAs are tax-favored, individually owned savings accounts that can be used to pay for medical expenses in conjunction with a high-deductible insurance plan. About 6.1 million Americans were covered through HSA plans in January 2008, up 35 percent over the same period a year earlier, according to AHIP, a trade association representing insurers. … About 30 percent of individuals covered by HSA plans worked for small businesses, 45 percent worked for large employers, and 25 percent bought insurance in the individual market. The small-group market is the fastest-growing segment for HSAs.” [editor’s note: They damn sure ARE “tax shelters”; since the legalized theft machine won’t give you back your medical payments (unless you’re a corporation?), this is the only option! - SAT] (05/14/08)

http://tinyurl.com/3grguc

“As pears and apples ripen, the chlorophyll in the peel is replaced by an antioxidant known as nonfluorescing chlorophyll catabolytes (NCCs), according to a new study conducted by researchers from the University of Innsbruck, Austria, and published in the journal Angewandte Chemie International Edition. Chlorophyll is the chemical that makes plants’ leaves green and enables them to convert sunlight into energy. When a leaf dies, the chlorophyll begins to decay and the leaf loses its green color. This may happen because of age or injury.” (05/14/08)

http://www.naturalnews.com/023239.html

“After a speedy rise as one of the nation’s oddest-sounding designer disorders, restless legs syndrome may have run its course. In 2005, the federal Food and Drug Administration approved the first medication targeting the twitching condition, propelling the problem to household-name status and launching a multimillion-dollar consumer advertising campaign by manufacturer GlaxoSmithKline. Television ads touting ropinirole hydrochloride, a drug originally used to treat Parkinson’s disease, sent jittery patients to doctors’ offices to demand the brand name medication called Requip.” [editor’s note: Get this straight — there ARE people who legitiately suffer from this disorder, for whatever neurological reasons (I used to live with one), but it is by no means the “epidemic” implied by thosa TV ads! Fortunately, this is one case where the “industry” (cf. ADHD) has not yet grown enough to be unstoppable! - SAT] (05/14/08)

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24603237/

“Dining on foie gras — a delicacy of duck and goose liver — will soon be legal again in Chicago. The Chicago City Council on Wednesday repealed its controversial two-year-old ban on the gourmet dish, drawing dissent from animal rights activists who consider foie gras cruel because the geese and ducks are force-fed to make their livers bigger. But there were no worries in chef Didier Durand’s Loop restaurant, Cyrano’s Bistrot. ‘All of us are so excited,’ Durand told reporters as he held his pet duck, Nicolai, named after French President Nicolas Sarkozy. ‘People miss it. They used to go to the suburbs to get foie gras and stopped going to specifically French restaurants.’” (05/14/08)

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,355759,00.html