July 2008 Health in the News Archive

[ Monthly Index of New Briefs ]

This article so moved me I fired off a letter to the editor at the Republic. It says, in part, "How can I take seriously an article written as though it were "news", when even the headline contains emotionally charged words aimed at steering the reader toward the writer's opinion? In medicine, informed consent involves presenting the facts to patients, discussing the pros and cons, and allowing them to make their own decisions about whether to undergo the proposed treatment. We try very hard not to say that ours is the only way, that other ways are "quackery".

Medical history is full of cases where those who, early on saw value in new ways, were at first ridiculed, then later awarded the Nobel Prize. Linus Pauling of vitamin C fame is one such example. In the case of chelation's use in autism, the writer miserably failed to present both sides of the story.

Chelation is a proven therapy. It was used by the U.S. Navy to successfully remove lead from poisoned sailors and has been used since successfully to treat heart disease. This is not a "fringe" treatment. It is a tried and true treatment now being applied to children because studies show children's bodies are loaded with metals and environmental chemicals.

Of course, parents of autistic children are desperate. An estimated 1 in 150 children now has autism. Conventional medicine, as the article points out, says there is no cure and offers a few prescription drugs. If chelation can bring autistic children back into the world, then the media deserves to give it an honest look and stop merely repeating old dogma. Here at the Arizona Center for Advanced Medicine, autistic children use chelation often with great success and we celebrate those successes.

This is another curious recommendation from the AAP. Statins have been around since only the mid-1980s; there is no evidence to show whether giving statins to a child will lower the risk for heart attack in middle age. Despite Dr. Bhatia's breezy endorsement of these drugs, there is evidence that statins cause muscle pain and weakness, and interfere with the mental ability to concentrate and think clearly.

Decades ago, a few studies caused the medical world to think high cholesterol is linked to heart disease. We know now those studies were flawed. We also now know enough that before we prescribe drugs for young children that alter the body's basic processes, we should first look at whether "high" cholesterol is caused perhaps by low thyroid, exposure to chlorine, lack of sun exposure, lack of vitamin c, or hydrogenated oils in the diet.

The AAP also recommends giving children low-fat milk after 12 months if a doctor is concerned about future weight problems. The AAP says that because children often consume so much fat, low-fat milk is now appropriate. Truth is, children absolutely need fat - and cholesterol - for brain development.

But too many kids eat the wrong kids of fats, trans fatty acids from fast foods. What kids need more than anything is DHA, especially when they are very young, to build up their brain function and neural connections. Mother's milk has the highest levels of DHA. It would be a shame to deprive toddlers and growing children of the most helpful part of cow's milk - the full fat - in the mistaken belief that high cholesterol levels are the cause of heart disease.

This bill would put the FDA in the interesting position of approving the sale of something that kills people and has no medical benefit. According to the CDC, tobacco kills 438,000 people each year in the United States alone. According to conservative figures from the American Medical Association, FDA-approved drugs kill about 100,000 Americans a year. By contrast, 2751 people died in the 9-11 World Trade Center tragedy.

The White House is promising to veto the legislation because "the bill will unfortunately undermine one of the nation's premier public health and regulatory institutions and potentially lead the public to mistakenly conclude some tobacco products are safe." Meanwhile, Barack Obama promises a national ban on smoking in public places.

Politics aside, one thing is for sure. The FDA is undermanned and unable to protect the public health as it is. FDA-approved Vioxx killed 60,000 people and headlines about salmonella in tomatoes and e.coli in the beef just keep coming.

Dr. Lawrence Diller is the author of "The Last Normal Child" (Praeger, 2006). He is to be applauded for bringing attention to the gross conflicts of interests which now permeate standard medicine. These conflicts are hidden from American public by an unquestioning media.

Many times Dr. Paul Offit for example been quoted as an expert doctor when it comes to vaccines, yet rarely does the news mention that he is a paid consultant to Merck Pharmaceuticals who makes vaccines.

Dr. Diller's essay is excellent and can be found in its entirely at http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/07/13/IN7G11L6TL.DTL

Also see our recent news item on the American Academy of Pediatrics recommending cholesterol lowering drugs for children beginning at age 8.

Inappropriate childhood behavior ranging from aggressiveness to autism, from inability to focus to severe stomach pains is our specialty. Read how we examine the whole body – from brain function to gut function and everything in between – and how we apply non-drug based answers at http://www.arizonaadvancedmedicine.com/therapies/brain_advantage.html

Manufacturers of consumer products are not required to disclose the ingredients The European Union recently enacted legislation requiring products to list 26 fragrance chemicals when they are present above a certain concentration in cosmetic products and detergents. No similar laws exist in the United States.

If we had better in truth in labeling, we wouldn't be in the dark about toxic chemicals in our environment.

I give a big thumbs up to the words of Committee Chairman John Dingell, D-Mich, who called the FDA's funding distribution pattern a "failure of FDA management to understand that its sole purpose for existence is to protect the American people."

When we are dying, antibiotics are a good choice to debulk the infection so that the body can deal with the clean-up. But the casual use of antibiotics has led to the growth of "superbugs." And all pharmaceutical drugs carry risk. We think we know the effects of drugs, but their effects have not tested on every metabolic process in the body. Only "post-marketing" reports will reveal some of these side effects, which may well turn out to be affecting essential metabolic processes as we have found out with Cipro.