Month: July 2008

by Dr. Sherri Tenpenny, DO

Vaccinating children has become sacrosanct in our culture. Doctors and government officials insist that vaccines are safe, and parents are pressured into compliance. In fact, parents have been reported to social services by doctors who consider not vaccinating to be a form of medical neglect or child abuse.

Legislators across the country are attempting to pass laws in which parents will have no rights to refuse what is injected into their children.

The inconsistency of rules involving the care of children is striking. Mothers are in complete control of their child’s health while in the womb. They make choices against eating tuna, taking medications, smoking cigarettes and avoiding alcohol. Mothers may choose to even terminate the pregnancy. But the moment the baby arrives, control over their child’s body is forcibly surrendered to healthcare providers and the government. The leg is jabbed with shots, eyes are gooped with antibiotic ointment and the heel is poked to get a drop of DNA-containing blood. With the passage of the Newborn Screening Saves Lives Act of 2007, signed into law April 24, 2008, the blood will be collected and warehoused for scientific research.[1] Parents have little or no say in any of these events. (see my previous article, “Who Owns Your Child?”)

Vaccination is promoted by an industry that capitalizes on fear and the perceived necessity of the procedure has become multi-generationally entrenched. We have been programmed by the medical community and the media to believe that everyone – children and adults — will become sick, and likely die, unless they are vaccinated. This explains why not vaccinating can be unfathomable to new parents who are unreasonably terrified of what were considered normal childhood illnesses only a few decades ago. The majority adults over 50 years of age remember having measles and the chickenpox. Both were mostly mild diseases, lasting seven to fourteen days, and leaving behind lifetime immunity.

And even though chickenpox is rarely fatal, most parents opt to vaccinate. Merck & Co. estimated that as of December 31, 2007, 80 to 85 percent of all four to six-year-olds had received two doses of Varivax®, at one year and a booster before school.[2] With little attention on the problems with the chickenpox vaccine cited in the media, most don’t realize that it can cause harm. Research shows that nearly 1 in 5,000 children who receive the chickenpox inoculation develop shingles within ten years of being vaccinated. Shingles, an intensely painful, blistering rash, is most commonly seen in the elderly or the chronically ill. It was rarely, if ever, seen in healthy children before the introduction of this vaccine. Other serious side effects, such as seizures, pneumonia, and anaphylaxis (a severe allergic reaction), have been reported as a result of Varivax. Before it became available, about 50 children died every year from rare or unusual complications of the chickenpox. Put in perspective, 53 children died in drowning accidents in the [U.S.] state of Georgia in 1999.

Vaccination has been cited as one of the ten greatest public health achievements of the 20th century. However, it doesn’t require an advanced degree in science to grasp that the public health accolades, celebrating high vaccination rates and low infection rates, have lead to serious health consequences across the globe. Vaccine ingredients seem to be playing a substantial role.

Problems With Vaccine Ingredients

Gelatin, one of many ingredients in vaccines, is known to cause allergies and asthma. Allergies are now the most frequently reported chronic condition in children, limiting activities in four out of 10 children. Asthma, the second most common chronic childhood disease, affects more than one child in 20. The combined healthcare costs of asthma and allergies have soared to more than $25 billion/year.[3] Vaccines that contain gelatin include chickenpox, MMR, Boostrix (teen pertussis booster), Tripedia (DTaP) and the adult shingles vaccine, Zostrix. Vaccine gelatin may be contributing substantially to the skyrocketing incidence of, and expenditures on, asthma and allergies.

Another vaccine additive, formaldehyde, can interrupt the normal function of the immune system. A colorless, pungent-smelling gas, formaldehyde can cause watery eyes, burning sensations in the eyes and throat, nausea, difficulty in breathing and asthma attacks when exposed to amounts as small as 0.1 parts per million. It is listed as a hazardous chemical on eight federal regulatory lists and considered to be one of the ten worst compounds on the ecosystem and health. Between 10 and 20 percent of general population has a reaction coming in contact with formaldehyde. Topical exposure can cause a mild reaction, such as dry skin and redness. The California Indoor Air Quality Fact Sheet states there is no known threshold level below which cancer risk does not exist.[4] The World Health Association (WHO) recommends that an exposure should not exceed 0.05 ppm or 0.05 mg/kg. So, for 12 pound baby (about 5kg), the maximum exposure should be below 0.25 mg. But with the current schedule, children receive more than ten times that amount, more than 3.5 mg, if they receive every mandated vaccine. Vaccines that contain formaldehyde include DTaP, polio, influenza, hepatitis A and hepatitis B.

Thankfully, mercury (in the form of thimerosal) has been removed from most vaccines. However, measurable amounts are still found in multi-vial flu shots, tetanus boosters, Energix-B (hepatitis B vaccine), Menomune (college meningitis vaccine), TriHiBit and Tripedia (both DTaP vaccines), and Twinrix (a combination hepatitis A and hepatitis B vaccine). Trace amounts remain in many more. Countless children have developed autism and there is strong evidence that their brains were injured by the preservative thimerosal.

Follow the Money

Positioned as a loss leader, vaccines appear to be the economic drivers of both the medical and the pharmaceutical industry. A loss leader is a business technique in which a less-expensive product is sold or given away for the sake of offering another product at a greater profit. This common practice is utilized to introduce new customers to a product, to build a new customer base and/or to secure future recurring revenue. Using a loss leader is more than just a nifty business trick – it can be a very successful economic strategy when executed properly. The classic example of a loss leader is the sale of razor blades. Companies like Gillette essentially give their razor units away for free, knowing that customers will buy their replacement blades, where the company makes all of its profit, for as long as they use the razor.

Vaccines play a similar role for the drug companies. The cost of a vaccine is relatively inexpensive compared to the billions of dollars spent on medical interventions, medications—and even more vaccines—dispensed as a result of a vaccination side effect.

Consider this example: the potential consequences of an inoculation with one of the two newly approved vaccines to prevent a rotavirus diarrheal infection, RotaTeq® and Rotarix®.

Side effects listed on the package insert for RotaTeq include diarrhea, vomiting, irritability, fever, wheezing and coughing. RotaTeq has also been associated with bloody stools, a warning sign of a serious complication called an intussusception. Triggered by the vaccine, intussusception is an event where a portion of the bowel slides into the next, much like the pieces of a telescope, causing an obstruction. Swelling, inflammation, and decreased blood flow to the fragile lining of the bowel cause the intestine to die. Between February 3, 2006, when RotaTeq was licensed, and January 31, 2007, twenty-eight cases of intussusception were reported in infants who received RotaTeq in the U.S. Sixteen of the 28 infants required hospitalization and surgery on their intestine.

In February, 2008, the FDA issued a warning that there was a "statistically signficant increase in pneumonia-related deaths and seizures" associated with the other vaccine for rotavirus infection.[5] To reduce the risk of pneumonia, doctors promote the pneumococcal vaccine, Prevnar®. A side effect of Prevnar, as listed in the package insert, is ear infections, increasing the use of antibiotics. The many rounds of antibiotics required to treat recurring ear infections can cause serious bowel problems, leading to blood tests and evaluations by the pediatric gastroenterologist. The cause of all these additional problems is rarely indentified as a side effect of a vaccination.

All of this can result from a Rotarix or a RotaTeq shot, given to avoid a common infection that most children contract, and recover from uneventfully, by the time they are three years of age.

Another example is the hepatitis B vaccine, given at birth, can cause diarrhea, vomiting, and dyspepsia (a condition associated with gnawing or burning stomach pain and persistent vomiting). Tiny children receive x-rays, undergo procedures such as endoscopy, and are given adult medications such as Prilosec® or Nexium® to resolve their discomfort. Unfortunately, since the dyspepsia is not recognized as a vaccine side effect, additional dosages of the hepatitis B vaccine are administered, often compounding the problem.

Vaccines are the bedrock of expanded illnesses, skyrocketing medical costs and exponential drug sales. But it is more than individual vaccines that are cause for concern. The sheer number of vaccines children now receive between birth and six years of age is staggering and include: Diphtheria (a rare throat infection), pertussis, and tetanus (the DTaP shot); Haemophilus influenza type b (the Hib vaccine); measles, mumps, and rubella (the MMR shot); pneumococcus (the Prevnar vaccine); polio (three strains); rotavirus (five strains); and individual vaccines for hepatitis A, hepatitis B, chickenpox, and meningitis. Flu shots (three strains) are now given annually, beginning at six months of age. That adds up to 113 vaccine antigens by kindergarten given in about 33 shots.

Parents are becoming wary of the many needles being jabbed into their precious babies at the tender age of two, four and six months. In response, the drug companies are combining several vaccines into a single injection. Comvax (hepatitis B and HiB), ProQuad (MMR and chickenpox), Pediarix (DTaP, polio and hepatitis B) and two newly approved vaccines, Kinrix (DTaP and polio) and Pentacel (DTaP, polio and HiB) have been developed. Parents are deceived into believing that the combination shots are fewer vaccines; they are not: The number of jabs is reduced, but the number of antigen doses remains the same.

A significant problem with the combo shots is that, in the event of an adverse reaction, there is no way to determine which component caused the problem. This eliminates the ability to refuse additional doses of a particular vaccine. The ability to make a claim with the Vaccine Injury Compensation program is likewise negated.

For adults who believe the days of deciding about vaccines are over because their children are now teenagers, think again: Teenagers are the new target market for the vaccine industry. Boosters are being recommended for vaccines given before five years of age and the new teen vaccines, Gardasil (for cervical cancer) and Menactra (for college-type meningitis), are being heavily marketed by doctors and the media. The additional vaccines add substantially to the total number of vaccine antigen. If little girls receive all doses of all recommended vaccines, they will have received 156 vaccine antigens and about 45 shots by middle school. Boys, not yet approved for Gardasil, receive slightly fewer: only 144 vaccine antigens and about 42 shots.

Many more vaccines in the pipeline will put teens and adults in the industry crosshairs. In 2007, adult-teen vaccine sales overtook pediatric sales, the first time ever, accounting for 50.6% of all revenues. This development has been attributed to robust sales of influenza vaccines and the success of Merck’s advertising to promote Gardasil for the HPV virus. Gardasil alone posted $1.5 billion in sales in 2007.[6]

And yes, it’s about the money. In addition to driving revenues as a loss leader, the newer vaccines are driving revenues through direct sales of expensive vaccines. According to Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News,[7]

    In 2007, the world market for preventive vaccines totaled $16.3 billion, up more than 38%, from $11.7 billion, in 2006. The market is predicted to increase at a compound annual rate of 13.1% during 2008. This growth rate is unheard of in other drug categories, especially since this is expected to be a challenging year for the pharmaceutical industry. Few other drug categories will see as many new product introductions and such public-policy attention.

    In 2007, global sales of pediatric vaccines exceeded $8.0 billion, an increase of 25.2% over 2006 sales of $6.3 billion. This high growth was due in part to continued heavy gains of Wyeth’s pneumococcal vaccine, Prevnar, as well as the introduction of Merck’s, RotaTeq….This will result in an overall market expansion of 14.2% per year from 2008 to 2013, with total sales reaching $18.8 billion at the end of the forecast period.

Vaccines are promoted as a way to boost the immune system. It only stands to reason that injecting multiple doses of pathogens and measureable amounts of chemicals taxes the immune system instead of enhancing it. I’ve observed in families who have more than one child and have chosen to vaccinate the first, but not subsequent children, the younger siblings seem to come down with fewer infections and are much healthier overall. I don’t believe that’s a coincidence.

Preventive measures aimed at enhancing health can be incorporated into simple, lifestyle changes. Here are a few helpful suggestions:

    • Staying away from white (refined) sugar and opting for healthy foods and sugar-free snacks is the first step.
    • A high-quality, sugar-free, multi-vitamin/multi-mineral supplement is recommended for all ages, too, not just for picky eaters.
    • The benefit adequate sleep has on health cannot be overstated. Without adequate sleep, the body is much more susceptible to illness. Toddlers need up to 14 hours a day of sleep, but they typically get only about 10½. Children between the ages of three and six need at least 10 to 12 hours per night; between seven and twelve years of age, 10 hours; and teens and adults need at least 8 hours. Most children get far less; and parents need to enforce bed times for their children, and for themselves.
    • Provide your family with clean, filtered water.
    • Encourage regular—but not obsessive—hand washing.
    • Make sure to get away from the TV and the computer several hours a day to run and play outside. Exercise stimulates the immune system and has a whole cascade of positive effects.

Persons who investigate both sides of this issue rarely continue vaccinating. That speaks volumes. If you do decide to “Say No to Vaccines,” you’re not alone. Thousands of parents who have experienced first-hand the consequences of vaccination, including autism, are not looking for “something to blame.” They are begging other parents to learn about the risks before they proceed. Learn to trust your intuitive sense and investigate the full spectrum of the vaccination issue. You’ll be glad you did.

by Tom Fitton

From the Desk of Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton:
Judicial Watch Uncovers Shocking New FDA Documents Related to Gardasil

Those of you who regularly read this column know that Judicial Watch has taken the lead in exposing the ugly truth about the dangerous side effects associated with Gardasil, the vaccination for human papillomavirus (HPV) currently being administered to young girls.

Well this week, we released a special report based on new "adverse event reports" and other information obtained from the FDA under the Freedom of Information Act. These reports document 10 reported deaths since September, 2007. (The total number of death reports is at least 18 and as many as 20.) The FDA also produced 140 "serious" reports (27 of which were categorized as "life threatening"), 10 spontaneous abortions and six cases of Guillain-Barre Syndrome – all since January 2008.

Here are a few excerpts from the documents we uncovered. The rest can be read in our report. (Warning: These descriptions get very graphic.)
Information has been received…concerning a 20 year old female with no medical history reported, who on 01-APR-2008 was vaccinated with a dose of Gardasil….The patient died four days after…patient sought unspecified medical attention. An autopsy was performed which ruled out suicide and anything suspicious. The cause of death is currently unknown. VAERS ID: 310262-1 (D) Cold sweat, Fall, Foaming at mouth, Grand mal convulsion, Immediate post-injection reaction. . .Pt [patient, 14-year-old female] received vaccine, took 6 steps, fell to the ground unconscious and had a 60 sec grand mal seizure then regained consciousness. [Blood pressure] after seizure 60/40 pale clammy skin. [Patient] had bit her tongue and had foam around her mouth. VAERS ID: 305259-1 (S)

Information has been received from a physician concerning a female patient who on an unknown date was vaccinated with a dose of Gardasil. Subsequently, the patient experienced a coma and is now paralyzed. At the time of this report, the patient's outcome was unknown. VAERS ID: 303188-1
Would you allow your daughter to have this vaccine when these are the potential consequences? I know I wouldn't. If Merck has its way, however, we might not have much of a choice. Merck had been lobbying to have the vaccine mandated for young girls and some politicians seemed willing to oblige. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has already recommended that 11 and 12-year-old girls begin receiving the vaccine as part of school vaccination efforts. (Following the CDC's lead, Texas Governor Rick Perry signed an executive order last year mandating the vaccine for 6th grade girls. Parent groups fought the mandate and the mandate was rescinded.)

Moreover, according to a recent article in The Washington Post, Merck plans to lobby the FDA to approve the vaccination for young boys as well. (Right now, the vaccination is approved for girls/young women from ages 9 to 26. Just last week, the FDA rejected Merck's attempt to expand the use of the vaccination for women 27 and older. Merck plans to reapply.)

These developments make our report all the more relevant. Read it for free by clicking here, and then be sure to send the link to your friends, family members and colleagues.

Judicial Watch Obtains Award for Attorneys Fees in Lawsuit Related to Senate Majority Leader Reid

On June 27, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia awarded attorney's fees to Judicial Watch in our Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the Bureau of Land Management [Judicial Watch v. Bureau of Land Management, Civil Action No. 07-1570 (RCL)]. As you might recall, Judicial Watch sued the agency for documents related to a massive real estate development project in Coyote Springs, Nevada involving Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid.

Judicial Watch launched an investigation after news reports suggested Reid greased the wheels for the real estate deal in exchange for campaign contributions and other favors from lobbyist and long-time friend Harvey Whittemore. (In addition to donating $45,000 to Reid's campaigns, Whittemore also hired Reid's son Leif to handle negotiations on the Coyote Springs deal. Leif Reid even called his father's office to talk about obtaining the proper permits. Talk about a conflict of interest!)

Senator John Ensign (R-NV) and then-Rep. Jim Gibbons (R-NV), who now serves as Governor of Nevada, are also implicated in the deal. Ensign and Gibbons both supported the Coyote Springs project at key stages, and also received campaign contributions from Whittemore.

Although Judicial Watch has been awarded attorneys fees before, let me tell you why this court ruling is especially important. This is the first decision by a judge for the District Court for the District of Columbia, which handles approximately half of all FOIA lawsuits, under the Open Government Act of 2007, signed into Law by President Bush on December 31, 2007.

Why is this significant?

Well, in order to obtain attorneys fees under any Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, the person or organization seeking documents must "substantially prevail" in the lawsuit. The Open Government Act expanded the definition of what it means to "substantially prevail."

Before the law was enacted, the requestor could essentially only prevail if the court issued an order or judgment against the government agency. To skirt the law, however, government agencies continued to stonewall the process by withholding documents up until the very last minute before a court order was to be imposed against them. The agencies played this game to avoid having to pay attorneys fees. Now they'll pay. Thanks to the Open Government Act, the requestor can prevail if the government agency changes its position, even if a court order has not been issued. For further (independent) commentary on this decision, click here.

Judicial Watch's lawsuit, and this court decision, will help to establish judicial precedent for other organizations seeking the release of government documents. In other words, this is a victory for Judicial Watch and for open government. To review the court decision, click here.

Judicial Watch Needs You!

I trust, through these Updates, you realize the value of Judicial Watch's good work against government corruption and for the rule the law. Whether it is battling illegal alien sanctuary policies in court, holding to account shady politicians of all political stripes, shining a light on our government, or generally being your "watchdog" in Washington – Judicial Watch is "the only the game in town" for conservatives and other fair-minded Americans who truly believe that "no one is above the law." I know many of you already financially support our work and for that I'm grateful. Each day we rely upon the ongoing support of the American people to continue our important work. To be blunt, fundraising slows down in the summer for obvious reasons, but our court cases and investigations continue. And corruption never takes a holiday.

These are critical times: as politicians gun for reelection or higher office this year, the watchdog role of your Judicial Watch is essential.

I ask you to strengthen our cause and make a financial contribution to Judicial Watch here.

Thank you in advance for your support, and I wish you and yours a wonderful Fourth of July holiday.

Until next week…

Tom Fitton
President

This was discovered by researchers from the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo. The study is only one of several that have recently added to the evidence that raw fruits and vegetables dramatically lower cancer risk.

In this study, researchers conducted a survey on the dietary habits of 1,100 people, 275 of whom had bladder cancer. They found that among both smokers and non-smokers, those who ate three or more servings of raw cruciferous vegetables each month had a 40 percent lower risk of developing bladder cancer. Compared with smokers who did not eat that amount, non-smokers who ate three or more servings of raw cruciferous vegetables per month had a 73 percent lower chance of developing bladder cancer.

Keep in mind that this research only involved three small servings a month! That's a ridiculously small amount of vegetable matter, and yet it had a profound anti-cancer effect.

Given that these cruciferous anti-cancer nutrients only stay in the body for about twelve hours, these study subjects only experienced a total of about 36 hours with these nutrients (out of a total of 720 hours in a typical month). In other words, they only had these anti-cancer nutrients in their bodies five percent of the time and yet, astonishingly, their bladder cancer rates plummeted by 40 percent!

Also remarkably, the researchers did not find a protective benefit from eating the same quantity of cooked cruciferous vegetables. This indicates that the anti-cancer properties of cruciferous vegetables are destroyed by cooking.

This is exactly what the leaders of the raw foods movement have been saying for years: Dr. Gabriel Cousens (www.TreeofLife.nu), David Wolfe (www.SunFood.com), the Boutenko family (www.RawFamily.com), David Rain (www.JuiceFeasting.com), Nomi Shannon (www.RawGourmet.com), Angela Stokes (www.RawReform.com), Brian Clement (www.hippocratesinst.com), Max Gerson (www.Gerson.org) and many others.

Keep in mind, too, that conventional medicine pill pushers have derided the raw foods movement for years, claiming raw foods have absolutely no health effects whatsoever on the human body. That outmoded view, of course, is considered hopelessly ancient by all but the most out-of-touch doctors and skeptics. What we're finding today is not only that raw foods are good medicine, but in fact raw foods are the BEST medicine for virtually all the big diseases now devastating Western civilization.

The findings of the Roswell Park study were presented at a meeting of the American Association of Cancer Research in Philadelphia.

Why raw vegetables not only prevent cancer, but REVERSE cancer
Cruciferous vegetables, also known as vegetables in the mustard or cabbage family, are some of the most widely consumed vegetables in the world, accounting for 10 of the most popular vegetable foods. The family includes not only cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower, but also arugula, Brussels sprouts, collard greens, daikon, garden cress, horseradish, kale, kohlrabi, mustard, radish, rape (canola), rapini, rutabaga, tatsoi, turnip, wasabi and watercress.

These vegetables are known to be high in important nutrients such as vitamin C and selenium, and they also contain hundreds of plant compounds that are known to fight cancer. One of these groups, isothiocyanates, has gained enormous attention over the last few years as an anti-cancer "medicine" provided by foods.

There have been 55 key epidemiological studies conducted on the relationship between cruciferous vegetable intake and cancer, according to the World Cancer Research Fund. Sixty-nine percent of those studies show a positive correlation between cruciferous vegetable intake and lower cancer risk. Interestingly, few of these studies tracked raw vegetable intake vs. cooked intake, and there is little doubt that the 31 percent of the studies showing no cancer risk decrease were likely tracking the intake of cooked vegetables. (Modern nutritional researchers remain ignorant about living foods vs. cooked foods, and they group them all together, oblivious to the fact that cooked foods lack the natural medicine of raw foods…)

Isothiocyanates inhibit both cancer and tumor development by directly blocking the carcinogenic action of free radicals. In other words, they prevent free radicals from attacking healthy cells and turning them cancerous. One specific variety, phenethyl isothiocyanate, has even been shown to induce cell death in certain cancer lines, including those that are resistant to chemotherapy drugs. (Oncologists remain indignant, however, insisting that cancer patients should never use food to treat cancer… that's why they also ran Max Gerson out of the country…)

Heat and irradiation destroys the medicine in foods – just what the FDA wants!
These plant-based medicines, however, are delicate molecules that are easily destroyed by heat. Cooking these foods obliterates the medicine they contain. So does food irradiation, by the way: Microwaving broccoli destroys up to 98% of its phytonutrients, including its anti-cancer nutrients.

The FDA, curiously, wants to pass regulations that would secretly irradiate the national food supply without any requirement whatsoever that such treatment be mentioned on the label of irradiated foods. My recent article, "FDA Leaps from Tomatoes to Peppers in Desperate, Fumbling Fiasco of Failed Food Safety over Salmonella" explains how the FDA is exploiting food safety scares as a way to generate a fear-based public reaction that will ultimately result in a mass irradiation of the entire food supply. See http://www.naturalnews.com/023614.html

Why is that an important goal for the FDA? Because fresh produce is just about the only thing keeping many Americans off pharmaceuticals and out of the hospital. Take away the natural medicine found in fresh produce, and you create a windfall of sickness and disease that doubles or triples the profits of the drug companies. Food irradiation is the FDA's devious plan to sicken the U.S. population and accomplish this financial goal for influential drug companies. (Sound crazy? You don't know the real FDA. Read about it here: www.NaturalNews.com/the_FDA.html )

Listen to Health Ranger Show #52: The Food Irradiation Plot to hear the full story on this. It's available as a downloadable MP3 file here: http://www.naturalnews.com/Index-Podcasts.html

Fortunately for Big Pharma's sick profits, many Americans cook their vegetables right now, destroying their natural medicines and keeping those consumers in a state of chronic degenerative disease. "Cooking can reduce 60 to 90 percent of isothiocyanates," said Li Tang, a lead researcher of the study mentioned above.

Yet more science shows the anti-cancer benefits of raw vegetables
Another recent Roswell Park study also uncovered evidence of the protective effects of cruciferous vegetables. Researchers took two groups of rats that had been engineered to develop bladder cancer and supplemented the diet of one group with freeze-dried broccoli sprout extract. They found that rats who ate more broccoli sprouts extract had significantly lower rates of bladder cancer.

(For the record, NaturalNews does not condone the use of animals for experiments, especially animals engineered to develop cancer. But at least in this study the rats were receiving nutrients rather than the usual pharmaceutical chemicals injected into them during drug industry trials…)

The researchers found that the isothiocyanates from the broccoli sprouts were processed by the rat's bodies and excreted within 12 hours. According to lead researcher Yuesheng Zhang, this suggests that the chemicals protect the bladder while they are stored there, awaiting excretion.

"The bladder is like a storage bag, and cancers in the bladder occur almost entirely along the inner surface, the epithelium, that faces the urine, presumably because this tissue is assaulted all the time by noxious materials in the urine," Zhang said. Change the liquid being stored in your bladder, and you change your risk of bladder cancer.

In other words, healthy pee keeps you cancer-free!

Healthy poo, by the way, stops colorectal cancer, which is yet another reason to stop eating milk, cheese, beef and other animal products. Soak the inside of your bladder and large intestine with vegetable juices, and cancer just vanishes. Someday, silly oncologists will abandon their toxic chemotherapy drugs and learn to just prescribe broccoli sprouts.

(As a side note, dogs have been trained to smell bladder cancer in human urine. A person who has bladder cancer emits a nasty smell in their urine, and it's not very difficult for dogs to pick up on this.)

Ninety percent of bladder cancers occur along the inner lining. Bladder cancer is the fourth most common cancer in men and the ninth most common cancer in women in the United States. More than 47,000 men and 16,000 women nationwide are diagnosed with the disease each year. Chemotherapy is utterly useless against bladder cancer. Five-year survival rates are ZERO percent better than doing nothing at all. In fact, chemotherapy is highly toxic to the bladder and kidneys, causing cellular damage that actually leads to more cancer later on.

Adding to the evidence that uncooked fruits and vegetables help protect against cancer, researchers at Ohio State University found that the eastern black raspberry, Rubus occidentalis, offers protection against cancer of the esophagus.

In this study, human patients with a condition known as Barrett's esophagus, which often leads to esophageal cancer, were fed freeze-dried black raspberries (1.1 ounces for women and 1.6 ounces for men) every day for six months. At the end of that time, researchers measured blood levels of two chemicals that indicate the risk of cancer.

Patients given the raspberries had 58 percent lower levels of 8-isoprostane, which is correlated with cancer risk, and 37 percent higher levels of GSTpi, which is known to protect against the cell damage that leads to cancer.

Black raspberries are particularly high in anthocyanins, a powerful antioxidant found in many other foods, including red cabbage. See www.NaturalNews.com/anthocyanins.html

Anthocyanins are among the pigments that give fruits and vegetables their bright colors. Every bright color found in fresh produce is, in fact, a powerful natural medicine. Studies have shown that anthocyanins protect against not only cancer, but also diabetes, bacterial infections, inflammation, neurological diseases and the symptoms of aging.

The conclusion: Raw foods halt disease and greatly enhance health
The conclusion to all this is that consuming raw fruits and vegetables is an astonishingly powerful way to halt degenerative disease, stop cancer, reverse diabetes, end heart disease and enhance your health. All the pharmaceuticals in the world can't compete with the protective power of the tens of thousands of natural medicines created by Mother Nature and found in the very plants sitting in your local grocery store right now.

This is why juicing fresh fruits and vegetables on a daily basis is possibly the single most important nutritional strategy you can pursue for protecting yourself against degenerative disease. I juice every single day. My own personal recipe is as follows:

(All produce is organic)
• 2 large bunches of celery
• 4 large carrots
• 1 large bunch of parsley
• 2 medium apples
• 1 medium lemon or grapefruit
• 1 large bunch of kale
• 1 large bunch of spinach or salad greens
• Small pieces of ginger, turmeric root and beet
• 1/2 container of fresh sprouts (alfalfa or clover) – This can be changed to broccoli sprouts for cancer patients.

I juice all this up, creating a beautiful green / orange liquid. Then I blend 2 cups of fruit (strawberries, blueberries, etc.) in my Vita-Mix, keeping the fruit pulp in the blend, then I pour that liquid into the vegetable juice. This creates a delicious fruit-and-vegetable blend that keeps the fruit fiber but juices away the rough vegetable fiber. I like the fruit fiber because many of the natural medicines in fruit are found in the skin, locked into the fiber. So I always blend fruit into my juice and drink this slightly-thickened juice blend. It's absolutely delicious!

For people preventing or battling cancer, simply boost up the anti-cancer ingredients: Turmeric, broccoli, cabbage, kale, sprouts, etc. Cancer simply melts away when bathed in these vegetable juices.

To make the whole thing sweeter, add a bit of stevia to the final blend. If it's still too bitter for you, try adding more lemon or citrus, which masks the bitter taste of vegetables. If it's still too bitter, you are probably a sugar junkie (like I used to be) and your taste buds are all skewed. Get off the sugar for 30 days and everything natural will suddenly taste better.

Adding watermelon to your juice makes it super tasty, but raw foods experts like Dr. Cousens would strongly recommend you avoid watermelon. The glycemic index is too high. People suffering from chronic diseases like cancer, diabetes and heart disease need to stick with low-glycemic juicing for a long, long time, until their metabolism gets healthy again. Only then, when you're fit, active and exercising at least ten hours a week (like me) can you start to take up high-glycemic fruit juices.

Remember, I used to be pre-diabetic. I went through the healing process, repaired my body, and now I have the joy of exercising as much as three hours a day. That affords me the metabolic privilege of drinking just about any fruit juice I want, without any negative blood sugar effects. But that's only because I'm burning calories day and night. If you're obese or overweight, you'll have to steer clear of fruit juices until you get body fat below about 15% for men or 20% for women. Even then, make sure you watch things very carefully. Ideally, you'll do all this under the supervision of a naturopathic physician. Or just go to the Tree of Life Rejuvenation Center in Arizona and get Dr. Cousens to help in person!

Juicing can save your life and get you off dangerous pharmaceuticals
The bottom line to all this, folks, is that juicing vegetables is the secret to reversing disease now and preventing disease for a lifetime. But it has to be fresh, raw, living juice.

Remember, pasteurized vegetable juices purchased in bottles at the store are worthless! That includes all the Naked Juice, V8, Odwalla and other brands that claim to be good for you. While they're not bad for you, they're also DEAD JUICE. That means they have virtually none of the nutritional healing benefits of fresh, living juice. Don't be fooled by healthy-sounding bottled juice products. If it's in a bottle, it's dead. And dead juice doesn't support life.

There is only one way to get fresh, unprocessed, living juice: Make your own juice! This is the simple secret to staying healthy, vibrant and mentally sharp for the rest of your long, enjoyable life: Juice your way to health! (And then supplement with superfoods, herbs, and other targeted nutritional needs.)

Juicing is the future of medicine. It cures cancer. It reverses heart disease. It stabilizes cholesterol and blood pressure. It ends kidney stones and gall stones. It reverses depression and psychosis. It builds strong bones and strong muscles. It absolutely reverses diabetes in a matter of days, and it obliterates obesity in a matter of weeks. And in doing all that, it makes virtually all pharmaceuticals obsolete.

Juicing and raw foods go hand in hand. They are the answers to disease and sickness. No wonder Big Pharma and the FDA don't want you to find out about the true healing power of plant-based nutrition, huh?

In fact, they're off on vacation for the summer while the nation is crumbling. Do you think we've hit Peak Oil? Is the demand from China and India really increasing so fast that OPEC can't keep up with demand? Has the American dollar really crashed enough to justify such a rapid increase in prices in a matter of mere months? Every single trading day we're hit with more lies to keep oil prices going up. Unless the people of our nation get informed of the real facts right now and demand action from DC, we're finished. A sinister plan to cripple the planet is in full swing. The end game is the establishment of a one world order with the US being relegated to a destitute 3rd world nation.

If you're sick of the lies and garbage, then you and everyone you know must watch the following video by Baptist Chaplin Lindsey Williams. The oil has already been discovered in the US and we have enough of it to put OPEC out of business in 24 hours. Any politician or person working for any major media firm is complicitous in the conspiracy if they continue to refuse to acknowledge what Lindsey Williams learned more than 30 years ago. The earth is NEVER going to run out of oil. There is enough of it to last for another 100 million years. While alternative technology should be promoted to get the world off of oil, we need to deal with the facts we have available right now to deal with the present crisis.

When I refer to the FDA, I don't mean the Federal Drug Administration, I mean the Federal Death Administration. This agency derives its jurisdiction from treaties and has been getting away with destroying people's health for decades, and in too many cases, the result is death. The FDA is nothing more than another out of control agency answerable to no one. It needs to be abolished. While I was still writing news items for NWVs back in 2004, I wrote a piece on Donald Rumsfeld and aspartame. The mail came flooding in with accusations that aspartame was perfectly safe because the ghouls at the FDA said so! I followed up the deluge with a column under my own by-line; Aspartame Concerns – Junk Science, Quack Doctors?

Dr. Betty Martini has been a pioneer in exposing the devastating effects of ingesting that deadly chemical. Naturally, she's been attacked on a regular basis as have doctors and scientists who have studied the effects of aspartame on the human body – particularly the brain. Anyone who dares expose the truth which cuts into the profits of the big pharma houses is persecuted by the ghouls at the Federal Death Administration. Many are political prisoners for doing nothing more than trying to naturally treat their patients.

This is especially true for the multi-billion dollar a year cancer industry; see The Cancer Research Money Machines. Since I wrote that column almost two years ago, more "safe" drugs and treatments, given the stamp of approval by the Federal Death Administration, have proven fatal. Let's start with Gardasil, a new, deadly vaccine that I've covered in previous columns:

July 3, 2008. From the Desk of Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton: Judicial Watch Uncovers Shocking New FDA Documents Related to Gardasil

"Those of you who regularly read this column know that Judicial Watch has taken the lead in exposing the ugly truth about the dangerous side effects associated with Gardasil, the vaccination for human papillomavirus (HPV) currently being administered to young girls.

"Well this week, we released a special report based on new "adverse event reports" and other information obtained from the FDA under the Freedom of Information Act. These reports document 10 reported deaths since September, 2007. (The total number of death reports is at least 18 and as many as 20.) The FDA also produced 140 "serious" reports (27 of which were categorized as "life threatening"), 10 spontaneous abortions and six cases of Guillain-Barre Syndrome – all since January 2008. Here are a few excerpts from the documents we uncovered. The rest can be read in our report. (Warning: These descriptions get very graphic.)"

July 7, 2008. Should parents worry about HPV vaccine? "7,802 "adverse event" reports to CDC since Gardasil was approved. Reports claim drug caused nausea and paralysis — even death."

Only after enough Americans die or thousands have their health destroyed, does the FDA pull some of these dangerous drugs:

October 8, 2007, FDA pulls Drug for Stomach Ills Is Pulled From the Market: rug for Stomach Ills Is Pulled From the Market: Zelnorm…Arthritis Drug Bextra Pulled: "The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today requested Pfizer recall arthritis drug Bextra (valdexocib) and change the warning label on Celebrex (celecoxib)…Parkinson's disease drug pulled from market: "The FDA pulled a Parkinson's drug from the market after reports of heart valve damage in more than a dozen patients. Pergolide is sold under the name Permax and is believed to raise the risk of heart valve damage by 20 percent." "FDA Okays Stomach Drugs Prilosec And Nexium, For Now. Diabetes drug should be pulled over heart risks, FDA scientist says; Avandia."

How about the widely popular, HRT (hormone replacement therapy) drug, Prempro, found in the government's own study to increase a healthy woman's risk of breast cancer by 24%, stroke by 41% and heart attack by 29%?

April 24, 2007. 70 women 'die each year from cancer after taking HRT. "But the UK-sponsored Million Women Study now suggests HRT resulted in 1,300 extra cases of ovarian cancer between 1991 and 2005. Of these women, 1,000 died of the disease."

2008: Wyeth, Pfizer ordered to pay $27 million in punitive damages. "A Little Rock, Ark., federal jury found Wyeth Pharmaceuticals and Upjohn (a Pfizer unit) liable for $27 million in punitive damages to Donna Scroggin, who sued the drug manufacturers in 2004 after developing breast cancer after taking hormone replacement therapy. The award includes $19.3 million from Wyeth and $7.7 from Upjohn.

"Wyeth manufactures Premarin, an estrogen replacement, and Prempro, which is a combination of estrogen and progestin. These, along with Upjohn's Provera, which contains progestin, are commonly prescribed to treat the unpleasant effects of menopause….About 25 million American women use hormone replacement therapy (HRT) to ease the discomfort of menopause. There are about 5,300 similar cases pending across the country for Premarin and Prempro."

Here's a news flash: These dangerous cocktails are still on the market and being prescribed! I've never taken any form of HRT and am truly thankful I listened to my friend, Dr. Lorraine Day, 14 years ago. The 25 million women who use HRT's in this country just might be 'concerned' they will end up dead from breast and/or cervical cancer. I don't understand why anyone would take these drugs once you read the side effects: "Long-term treatment with Prempro may increase your risk of breast cancer, heart attack, or stroke." To help with hot flashes? Perhaps women should try natural supplements (Evening Primrose Oil, Dong Quai, Black Cohash) and a good 100% Mexican Yam progersterone cream for hot flashes. Okay, I have to give the disclaimer: I'm not a doctor nor am I making a medical referral here. I wouldn't want the Nazi's from the Department of Fatherland Security to charge me with some federal crime, i.e., prescribing natural supplements without the approval of the ghouls at the FDA.

People ask me all the time why can't Americans see what's happening in this country? Why the apathy? Well, a number of reasons: ignorance of the facts, blind loyalty to their political party; they take our freedoms for granted while distracted by meaningless past times likes sports and the mall, as well as being poorly educated on the history of this constitutional republic. I also believe it's because we have a nation of sick and dying people by the millions who are incapable of analyzing the big picture. Americans have been ingesting deadly chemicals into their bodies for decades, courtesy of the FDA. Aspartame is dangerous to your brain; please read this important warning. Aspartame is in most commercial yogurts, diet soft drinks and thousands of food products.

What about fluoride?

Germans and Russians Used Fluoride to Make Prisoners Stupid and Docile

"While a member of the Communist Party, I attended Communist underground training schools outside the City of New York.. Here, under the tutoring of Eugene Dennis, M. Sparks, Morris Chyilds, Jack Kling and others, we were schooled in the art of revolutionary overthrow of the established Government. We discussed quite thoroughly the fluoridation of water supplies and how we were using it in Russia as a tranquilizer in the prison camps. The leaders of our school felt that if it could be induced into the American water supply, it would bring about a spirit of lethargy in the nation; where it would keep the general public docile during a steady encroachment of Communism…We discussed in these schools, the complete art of revolution: the seizure of the main utilities, such as light, power, gas and water, but it was felt by the leadership that if a program of fluoridating the water could be carried out in the nation, it would go a long way toward the advancement of the revolution." Oliver Kenneth Goff, 1957

Americans have been drinking this deadly poison for almost as long as I've been alive. I stopped drinking any tap water 41 years ago; I don't even give it to my dogs or cook with it. A couple hundred million Americans brush their teeth with it everyday, it's in most commercial mouth washes and dentists use it on their patients. So, you have mass ingestion of aspartame, cooking people's brain and destroying their bodies while enriching the big pharmaceutical companies for more drugs to treat the results of aspartame poisoning! Douse the masses with fluoride to make them apathetic, lethargic and unable to resist. In other words, little better than cattle, controlled using the herding technique. I hate to put it that way, but I also hate what's been done to my fellow Americans. Yes, without question, certain drugs and vaccines are safe and they have benefited mankind in remarkable ways. But, that does not excuse the shoddy science being used by manufacturers who cover up the results and then get bad drugs approved by their coconspirators at the FDA.

One emailer, Captain Bobby, kept sending me requests to expose what he calls a lyme disease epidemic. He asked me with deep frustration in his emails why I wouldn't expose this and how people like him are suffering 24/7? If I wrote ten columns a day, eight days a week, I couldn't cover the thousand cuts killing this nation and our people. However, in the mini-master file discussed below, I have included credible information on lyme disease — including denials that it's even a problem!

Then, there is the real danger from the chemical cocktails being dropped on this country called chemtrails. I've done many columns on this human and environmental disaster; new material is included in the mini-master file discussed below.

There isn't room in this column to list all the articles and studies I have been saving, so what I've done is put them in this mini-master file for you to read over the weekend or when ever you can. Nothing is more important than good health. For you and your family. Also, I strongly recommend you listen to Dr. Sherry Tenpenny during a recent interview on KAJO Radio during the Carl Wilson show. Sherry is an expert regarding vaccines and your right to say no. Every parent in America needs to read her columns and listen to this interview. I have four brothers and sisters. Like our parents, the only vaccines we had were smallpox, diphtheria and polio. I also made sure my daughter received only those three. Thank, God.

How many more Americans will die, have strokes or suffer life long medical problems from deadly chemicals and treatments approved by the FDA? These poltroons in Congress who also own stock in pharmaceutical companies, continue to pass legislation to protect their big $$ donors and dividend checks, while parents try to cope with sick or dying children they love so much. Do you not cry for them? Congress has given these drug peddlers immunity more times than you can imagine to protect them from lawsuits. Look at the hundreds of billions of dollars in settlements, enriching lawyers like former presidential candidate, John Edwards, after these drugs given the "safe" label by the FDA, turned out to be a killer or laid low thousands of Americans by stokes and heart attacks?

Is the head of the FDA (past and present) ever held accountable? NO. They just resign and move on to another lucrative job if there's some heat. How about their lackeys? NO. You can sue the federal government, but it's a nightmare. Why should we the people continue paying taxes for settlements when the people who caused the problem (FDA) are never held accountable?

The honchos at the FDA who do the approving of these deadly cocktails walk around with impunity because they know from past history that these cowards in Congress will not hold them accountable. I believe at the very least, the head of the FDA and his underlings should be indicted by a grand jury for conspiracy to commit murder, reckless disregard for human life and any other charges a grand jury in any of the 50 states can find that applies — if you could get jurisdiction using the same legal basis as Bugliosi did in his book, The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder. It's a slam dunk the corrupt Federal Department of Justice under Attorney General Michael Mukasey, won't lift a finger for justice for the victims.

The FDA pulls these deadly drugs off the market – AFTER people like my brother have a major stroke that almost kills him (VIOXX). Then, the head of the FDA goes back to business as usual and power lunches in DC with his big pharma house buddies and is NEVER held accountable. I say it's long past time these people are held accountable in the criminal justice system. Giving these unelected officials immunity after wreaking such death and destruction on the American people cannot and must not be allowed to continue. This will NOT happen if the American people vote back in the same incumbents who have done nothing to stop the FDA's madness other than more meaningless hearings. Change cannot happen with the same players. In the meantime, dangerous drugs are still on the market and unsuspecting Americans will die or their health destroyed, requiring them to spend even more money for the pharmaceutical companies (pills) to "treat them." Don't you think it's time to hold Congress and the FDA officials accountable?

Dr. Rush also led the Pennsylvania delegation that ratified the United States Constitution. He put forth a very strong recommendation for inclusion to that founding document of this nation.

"Unless we put medical freedom into the Constitution, the time will come when medicine will organize into an undercover dictatorship to restrict the art of healing to one class of men and deny equal privileges to others; the Constitution of the Republic should make a special privilege for medical freedoms as well as religious freedom."

This urging of Dr. Rush went unheeded.

Red …

I am red with embarrassment that this nation has arrived at just that place that Dr. Rush predicted. There was no rush to such an arrival as it only began to come about almost 100 years after the death of Rush. That place was solidified throughout the last century.

In this storied "land of the free" today's modern medicine is severely restricted to one primary method of drugs and surgery. Medical practices are limited by laws, courts, government agencies, insurance regulations, and in one case just a few years ago, by armed guards.

A Colorado couple gave birth to their first child and were informed that a screening test cited the mother as positive for Hepatitis B, and therefore the newborn would be vaccinated immediately. The new parents' joys were turned to horror. They said there must be a mistake and refused the vaccination.

Armed guards were brought in to ensure the vaccination was administered. Subsequent testing very shortly thereafter confirmed that the new mother did NOT in fact have Hepatitis B.

The young father had cited the Constitution in his arguments against the vaccination. Alas, the Rush provision never made it into the Constitution. The grieved father was ganged up on by modern medicine with its members aided by hospital officials, social services, courts, and an armed contingent.

… white …

I am white hot with anger that this nation squelches non-medical treatments as "unproven" while fighting against research that would bring proof in these areas, and fighting against any research that manages to be performed with favorable results that are outside of drug and surgical methods.

In this storied "home of the brave" those who are brave enough to buck against the system do so at varying degrees of peril to their own life, liberty and pursuit of happiness.

Royal Raymond Rife developed a cure for cancer in the 1930s that was verified 100% effective under the watchful eyes of the American Medical Association, the University of Southern California, and others. Professional medical men refused to give a written stipulation that no one would be refused treatment based upon financial condition, so Rife refused to sign over rights to his method.

Subsequent court battles were extensive and expensive. Rife was unable to match the exhaustive legal muster of modern medicine. His treatment was buried and cancer victims have followed needlessly to early burials as a result.

Meanwhile, Rife was driven from his pursuit of happiness to pursuit of hard liquor in his despondency. He subsequently became an alcoholic.

Two decades later Drs. Seidel and Winters of the prestigious Franklin Institute of Dr. Rush's own beloved state of Pennsylvania tried to revive some of Rife's work. They ignored the anonymous phone calls warning them to cease their research. They didn't ignore the bullets ringing through the rear window of their automobile and ceased their research.

Then there is Dr. John R. Christopher who was one of the last herbal doctors licensed to practice in America. He was arrested and jailed many times for practicing medicine without a conviction before his death of old age in the 1980s.

Countless other incidents like these few dot the historical landscape of the past century. The predominant practice of medicine has fended off competition to practically "restrict the art of healing to one class of men and deny equal privileges to others". It is just as the medical doctor Benjamin Rush warned more than 200 years ago.

… and blue

I am blue with sadness for the needless suffering in this nation from the stranglehold modern medicine has placed over the health care system. It has effectively choked off competitive juices and the life flow of citizens in this nation.

Modern medicine twists and turns facts and figures to question and mock non-medical options. Fear of injury or death from these other options is the primary weapon employed. Yet few are the actual injuries and deaths from the non-medical methods. Meanwhile, conservative estimates note 100,000 deaths each and every year from modern medical errors. Other estimates more than double that number.

In the beginning of the last century antitrust laws smashed a string of bullying monopolies. It is time to smash the bully of modern medicine such that it see proverbial stars, and be beaten as though with stripes, forever ending its health care monopoly.

The original formula of ionic Utopia Silver will soon be available again. We are starting production in the next 2-3 weeks and should have a limited quantity to market before August.

Advanced Colloidal Silver (ACS) is itself about 20-25% ionic and 75-80% particulate, but the new product will be 80-90% ionic silver. As most of us know by now, ionic silver is just as effective topically and anywhere before the stomach, i.e., eyes, ears, nose, throat, etc. ACS (particulate nano-silver) has greater effectiveness from the stomach and beyond since the silver particles are better able to survive the stomach’s acid and is less likely to be converted to silver chloride.

If you should have any thoughts concerning this new “old” product, please email me at [email protected] or call me at 830 966-2104.

Ben Taylor

The move by the American Academy of Paediatrics has triggered a furore, because there is little long-term data on the risks and benefits of statins in children and, as yet, no evidence that the drugs can prevent heart attacks when they are adults.

But the numbers of obese and overweight children are soaring on both sides of the Atlantic and experts in the UK, who are already treating small numbers of very high risk children with statins, said it was time wider use of the drugs was discussed.

Most doctors agree that the use of statins for some children whose genetic inheritance puts them seriously at risk of death from a heart attack in their 20s or 30s is justified. In guidance due next month, the National Institute for Healthcare and Clinical Excellence (Nice) is expected to say statins can be given to the one in 500 children with the FH (familial hypercholesterolaemia) gene – which gives them a 50% chance of heart diseases – after the age of 10.

But the American academy has further pushed back the boundary. It wants cholesterol screening for all children with a family history of high cholesterol or heart disease, for children whose family history is unknown and for those with obesity, high blood pressure or diabetes between the ages of two and 10. If any of those over the age of eight have particularly high cholesterol levels, it says, statins should be considered.

The academy also says that babies in whom obesity or overweight is considered a problem by the age of 12 months should be given reduced-fat milk.

"We are in an epidemic," said Jatinder Bhatia, a member of the academy's nutrition committee, which made the recommendation, and professor and chief of neonatology at the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta. "The risk of giving statins at a lower age is less than the benefit you're going to get out of it."

But a number of doctors in the US expressed strong reservations yesterday about the use of drugs in children whose most urgent need is to get more exercise and eat a more healthy diet.

"What are the data that show this is helpful preventing heart attacks? How many heart attacks do we hope to prevent this way? There's no data regarding that," said Darshak Sanghavi, a paediatric cardiologist and assistant professor at the University of Massachusetts Medical School told the New York Times. Others expressed concern at the public health message the prescription of pills to overweight children might give.

But experts in the UK said that statins were already being given to children as young as six who had the FH gene and that discussion of their use was welcome. Chris Hendriksz, consultant in inherited metabolic disorders at Birmingham Children's Hospital, said the US guidelines were controversial but that he agreed with them. "I lost an eight-year-old with hypercholesterolaemia about 15 years ago," he said. "I could never believe it could happen that early. Things like that change your view." Hendriksz said the FH gene might not be the only genetic reason that fathers die of a heart attack at 25 or 30 in some families. In his clinic, he said, about a third of the children were on statins and two-thirds on diet and lifestyle modifications only.

George Rylance, of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, said he would expect anxieties from parents and the public if the college produced a statement like that of the US academy, but he welcomed their recommendation – "not only the text, but the debate it engenders", he said. He also felt that having the FH gene was not the only reason why children should be prescribed statins to keep their cholesterol down.

"We see families all the time where people are dying of coronary artery disease and they may not have a gene we recognise but there is something there."

Cathy Ross, a cardiac nurse with the British Heart Foundation, said that it was important to be sure there was a genetic component to the high cholesterol reading. "We should always eliminate other possible reasons, like a child's diet and lack of activity and weight in proportion to their height," she said. Counselling parents on diet and exercise should be tried first. "You don't give an adult statins without implementing lifestyle interventions."