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  • Onions, Dogs, and Toxicity Questions – Pets Are People Too!

    We often get questions about animal health topics – proving that "pets are people too!"

    Julio wrote to ask:

    I read you article on onions and garlic and how it can affect dogs. What about onion juice, is this also bad for dogs? It is sometimes added to oven roasted turkey breast. I know Foster Farms has it in their Turkey Breast.  Thanks

    Here is our answer:

    Hi Julio,

    As We mentioned in the article you read, we are NOT veterinarians – we are pet owners (our "pets" own us actually…) We are medics for humans who also research animal health issues that concern us and apply to our pets – so our advice is not to be taken as veterinary advice!

    The amount of onion required to cause hemolytic anemia in dogs is reported to be fairly large – on the order of an entire onion, or a cup of chopped onion. The size of the dog would of course have a bearing on the dangerous amount, and it is worth noting that garlic is also known to have this same effect.

    As with most things that can be toxic though, there are amounts or doses that can be tolerated without ill effect – if that were not so, then simply stealing a bite of hot dog garnished with chopped onions would be fatal and there would be far fewer dogs in this world – and we know that dogs are wonderful opportunists, ever-willing to snack down on an unattended human treat like pizza or the aforementioned onion-garnished hot dog. Fortunately, most seem to tolerate a few bites (or more) of onion fairly well…

    I cannot say how much onion juice might be added to roasted turkey breast, though I understand that onion, like garlic is a commonly used flavor enhancer. I can’t imagine that the total amount of onion available in a few small bites of this meat would amount to much, and I would guess that unless a dog were extremely sensitive there should not be a big concern about a small treat or two. More than that and all bets are off though…

    For a real, healthy treat for your dog, I would suggest you not give people-food scraps, but go and visit your local butcher and ask for bones and cutting scraps – knuckle bones are great and have a number of health benefits for your dog – and he (she) will love you for it!

    Hope this helps…

    Cheers,
    Nurse Mark

  • Gardasil, Mandatory Vaccinations, And Health Freedom – What Can History Teach Us?

    Do we learn nothing from history?

    Be it the "Swine Flu" vaccine in the 1970’s that caused more deaths than the swine flu did, or the polio vaccine in 1955 that cause more disease than it prevented (known as "The Cutter Incident"), it looks like we need to be reminded over and over again that when we monkey around by introducing foreign substances into people there are likely to be unforeseen, unintended, and serious – even lethal – repercussions.

    But that is just recent history – were you aware that there have been mandatory vaccination programs since the later part of the 1800’s? And that respected physicians of that day exposed the folly, ineffectiveness, and danger of those programs just as there are respected physicians who do the same today? And that those physicians, then and now, are systematically ridiculed, marginalized, harassed, and even ruined by the allopathic vaccine industry that stands to lose obscene amounts of money should the truth about vaccination become common knowledge?

    Let’s follow the money for a moment: Merck is the Big Pharma giant responsible for the vaccine Gardasil. This is said to be the most expensive vaccine in common use, with a price tag of $360 per three-injection series and Merck is said to have sold some 16 million doses of the stuff so far. Now, if a three dose series is $360, then presumably each dose is worth $120. Multiplied by 16 million, that works out to $1,920,000,000.

    That’s one billion, nine hundred and twenty million dollars folks. Darned near two billion dollars!

    Do we begin to see why there might be a big push going on to make this vaccination "mandatory"? Especially when there are reports that women, given freedom of choice, are not flocking to be vaccinated and sales are sagging (and profits too…)

    Remember, this is the company that also brought you such stellar performers as Vioxx, Fosamax, and Singulair… and has the money and power to "make things happen."

    Even the mainstream media is now beginning to follow the money-trail, with reporters like CBS News investigative correspondent Sharyl Attkisson finding heavy financial connections between Big Pharma, the American Academy of Pediatrics, Every Child By Two (a lobbying group created to promote early childhood vaccination and located within a stone’s throw of the White House in Washington, DC), and vaccination proponent Dr. Paul Offit – the pediatrician and vaccine patent-holder who has been reprimanded by congress for his conflicts of interest.

    Don’t get me wrong – everyone needs to make a living and pay their bills and the money has to come from somewhere – but when these organizations and doctors are taking money from Big Pharma they really shouldn’t be presenting themselves as impartial, public-service, free-from-industry-and-financial-influence when they are presented as experts promoting these drugs and vaccines.

    As I was doing a bit of research on Gardasil and other vaccines I came across a fascinating, chilling little tidbit: I visited Medscape – that medics-only online repository of medical information, supposed to be impartial and unimpeachable in it’s content. I was looking for an article titled "HPV Vaccine Adverse Events Worrisome Says Key Investigator," which was posted on July 26, 2008. In it’s place I found an article titled "HPV Vaccine Deemed Safe and Effective, Despite Reports of Adverse Events" and a note explaining that the first article had been removed following "editorial review."
    Removed, mind you – not left there, perhaps with an editorial caveat or warning about it’s suitability or impartiality so that the readers might draw their own conclusions – but removed. Gone. Dare I say censored? Suppressed?

    Fortunately, with a bit of careful searching, this article can be found elsewhere – though for how long, no-one knows. So that it may remain available to our HealthBeat News readers, I have placed the contents of this article in our archives. We believe that it should be the author of this article Allison Gandey who should decide the fate of her research and work – not Medscape or Merck. Ms. Gandey is welcome to contact us if she feels it should be removed…

    But I have digressed – this was supposed to be an article about mandatory vaccination programs, and it was prompted by recent news articles reporting that New York was considering a new law – Assembly Bill 10942 – would make all vaccines recommended by the CDC mandatory for all children to attend school. Not only that, but for the first time vaccines would become mandatory for infants and toddlers.

    Additionally, according to sources like the "Home School Legal Defense Association" this bill would allow doctors to give a vaccine to children without the consent or knowledge of the parents. Says the Association: "Theoretically, a doctor could ask if a 12-year-old girl had a boyfriend and when told “yes”, the doctor could tell this young girl that she would recommend the HPV vaccine to prevent her from getting cancer. The doctor could administer the vaccine without ever getting the parents’ consent and without their knowledge."

    Best of all, this boon-to-Big Pharma would require all children in the state to be given EVERY vaccine recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) – some twenty in all, some of which require multiple doses to achieve their desired "effect."

    So, once again we have legislators looking to remove from us any ability to exercise free will or choice with respect to our health.

    Perhaps the biggest question for us here is just who is at risk when someone is not vaccinated? It would seem to us that the person most at risk is the person who has decided to be at risk. We hear from the CDC, the FDA, the AMA, Big Pharma and others that vaccinations are supposed to "stop the spread of disease" and that this is justification for forced vaccination. But is this really so? Smallpox is said to have been "eradicated" through near universal vaccination – but the truth is that there are still isolated outbreaks of this disease today. People still get sick with this disease – most recover, a tiny few succumb. Smallpox vaccinations have not been given routinely to children since 1977. Why? the WHO would have us believe that because smallpox has been "eradicated" they are no longer needed. Could the truth be that no-one is willing to deal with the liability issues created by a vaccination that causes as much suffering and misery as it is said to prevent?

    Vaccinations are a contentious issue. There is ample evidence that vaccines can cause harm and illness. There is ample evidence that vaccination is considerably less than fully effective in preventing disease. There are many people who are suspicious of vaccination, and given the choice would rather take their chances with the disease than with the vaccination. As a kid I can remember "Chicken-pox parties" where moms would gather their children around an infected kid so that all could "enjoy" the illness and subsequent immunity. In fact, the earliest form of "vaccination" for smallpox was simply to rub against the open lesion of an mildly infected person. This usually resulted in a limited, mild infection which conferred immunity. This time-honored practice, known as Variolation, is of course scorned by "modern" medicine.

    Those who refuse vaccination expose only themselves to any possible risk of illness – those who wish to be "protected" are free to be vaccinated and then smile smugly at their "unprotected" neighbors. They are welcome to have a hearty "told you so" at my expense if I spend a day or two longer in bed with the flu because of my decision to forego
    the risks of immunization.

    We are not entirely anti-vaccination – indeed, Dr. Myatt has been known to prescribe certain vaccinations to some patients in order to stimulate immunity. But this is a carefully considered recommendation, not a wholesale mass inoculation program as Big Pharma would like to see.

    We support the right of informed people to make their own decisions. We feel that it is just plain wrong for government or Big Business to force any drug or vaccine or chemical on anyone. Especially when the motivation looks more like profit than health.

    Further reading / Resources:

    • "The Cutter Incident" book review – http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/332/7543/733
    • smallpox myths – http://www.the7thfire.com/Politics%20and%20History/SmallpoxMyths.htm
    • thiomersol controversy – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thiomersal_controversy
    • "Worst Vaccine Bill Ever" article – http://www.infowars.net/articles/may2008/300508vaccines.htm
    • Reflections on the 1976 Swine Flu Vaccination Program – http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/vol12no01/05-1007.htm
    • NY Times – "The Rush To Vaccinate" article – http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/25/opinion/25CIfry-revere.html
    • Wall Street Journal Article Questions Cost-effectiveness of Gardasil – http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121928503311259059.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
    • "DR. PAUL OFFIT: QUOTE MACHINE FOR HIRE" – http://www.ageofautism.com/2008/05/dr-paul-offit-q.html
    • 60 Minutes-REMINDER of who Dr. Paul Offit is: – http://www.whale.to/a/offit.html
    • "Serious Questions About HPV Vaccine" CBS article – http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/07/07/eveningnews/main4239462.shtml
    • VaccineEthics.org article: "HPV Roundup: Gardasil safety worries, Cervarix FDA delays, more on mandates" – http://blog.vaccineethics.org/2008/07/hpv-roundup-gardasil-safety-worries.html
    • Variolation and historical inoculation – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inoculation

  • "Double Standards" and Natural, "Non-Conventional" Health Care

    I was discussing the subject of drugs and drug testing with a friend online the other day, and thought that the following might be of interest to HealthBeat readers:

     

    My friend wrote:

    The problem: pilots are human, and subject to all the normal problems everyone else goes through. When a pilot gets depressed, they cannot seek help, or they will be grounded for a period that can last for years.

    Why is it OK for police, judges, firemen, other jobs with great social responsibility, to be successfully treated with anti-depressants, but pilots are expected to be superhuman physically and mentally?

    And I replied:

    Hi,

    You are quite right – it is really NOT ok for there to be such a double-standard. No one is functioning at their best when filled with side-effect producing pharmaceuticals. Fortunately the FAA has the oversight and the clout to do something about it – most other professions do not, and you have judges making bad decisions that affect peoples lives, cops putting themselves, their partners, and the public at risk with dulled reflexes, crane operators making bad picks with dulled judgment, and so on.

    It is worth remembering however that depression is not caused by a Zoloft or Paxil or Effexor deficiency, anxiety is not caused by a Valium or Xanax deficiency, high blood pressure is not caused by a Norvasc deficiency, diabetes is not caused by a drug deficiency… and yet these are common problems that people use sense and reaction-time dulling drugs for.

    Fair enough perhaps if you get this stuff "covered" by some health care plan, and it doesn’t affect your employability, and you really don’t care that you are disabled to some degree by side effects…

    But in the case of a pilot, this is a big concern. Conventional treatment for many illnesses using conventional drugs will ground a pilot, resulting in a sudden and severe loss of income – no wonder many attempt to self-treat. While hypertension or arrhythmias or diabetes will be found on the FAA physical, depression can be hidden with varying degrees of success.

    But it need not be so. Given the financial incentive for a pilot to maintain the ability to fly, perhaps it might be worth stepping outside of the "corporate medical insurance plan" box and seeking some alternative, non-conventional health care.

    A visit with a naturopathic physician, while reportable to the FAA, could be legitimately reported simply as "Nutritional and Dietary Counseling" even though the desired effect of such counseling might be the correction of imbalances that may be manifesting as, say, neurotransmitter imbalances resulting in feelings of depression. Result: reporting legitimately accomplished with privacy maintained.

    As far as drugs go, a good Naturopathic Medical Doctor would perform neurotransmitter testing and make dietary and supplement changes to correct out-of-range neurotransmitters, without using reportable drugs. This is not fantasy or psychic woo-woo stuff – we do it successfully, every day here. Though we can prescribe drugs (Dr Myatt is an NMD – Naturopathic Medical Doctor – and is fully licensed and in possession of a DEA number which allows her to prescribe any FDA-approved drug) we very rarely do so – it just isn’t necessary. Drugs are more like Band-Aids – they treat the symptoms while the patient heals them self. We treat the causes, resulting in much faster and more complete healing.

    Further, dietary supplements like L-5HTP, SAMe, St. Johns Wort, bromelain, grape seed extract, niacin, etc. are NOT reportable to the FAA as "drugs"…

    We are constantly amazed at the medical "problems" that folks drug themselves for that we correct without drugs. Some examples; hypertension – easily correctable without Norvasc or other drugs, type 2 diabetes – not just correctable but curable without drugs, allergies – yep, drugless relief, high cholesterol – back to healthy ranges without drugs, GERD – a "slam-dunk" with Nexium NOT required, heart arrhythmias – most respond nicely to drugless treatment (we have a lawyer patient who was told after 3 successive ecg’s that he had a permanent and irreversible heart block – that he was "a ticking time-bomb" and would likely need a pacemaker. After a month of drugless treatment his cardiologist repeated the ecg and shook his head saying "If I were a lawyer I would not want to have to go into court to explain this – it is gone and your heart is fine – and that is not supposed to happen!") The list goes on and no, but you get the idea – mankind survived and thrived for millennia without the help of modern drugs – what the heck has changes so in the last century to make us any different?

    It also amazes me that folks insure their automobile but don’t expect the insurance company to pay for their tune-ups, oil changes, new tires, or new muffler – but when you suggest to someone that they might part with a few of their hard-earned dollars for a health care consultation or vitamins or supplements they react with horror, expecting that to either be "covered" by "the plan" or they just won’t do it. Yet in the case of a pilot, that refusal to take some personal responsibility for one’s own health could result in being grounded with the loss of income that would result.

    The analogy would be to knowingly drive on your bald tire, waiting for it to blow out on the road so that you can call road service to come out and put the spare on… and still not bothering to get new tires "because the insurance won’t cover it."

    So, if you have aviation buddies who are dancing around the FAA trying to avoid reporting ground-able stuff have them tap us – I’ll bet we can help keep ’em flying… and get them healthier than they’ve ever been…

    As an aside, I would love to have the opportunity to apply some simple dietary and vitamin techniques to a training class of aviators, with a parallel class as a control – I’m certain we could  demonstrate improvements in strength, stamina, endurance, coordination, alertness, resistance to fatigue and illness,  reaction times, and more… at little cost to Unka Sam.

    Cheers,
    Nurse Mark

  • A Little Fun At The Expense Of Our Bureaucrats

    A friend forwarded this on to me, thinking that I might enjoy it, since I am Canadian. While it is written about a Canadian rancher and a Canadian Provincial Government Inspector, it occurs to me that a story like this knows no nationality – it could happen anywhere that government officials find themselves becoming drunk with their own sense of self-importance. Read on, and see why this timeless little tale tickled me so…

    So this Department of Water Resources representative stops at a Canadian ranch in Alberta , and talks with the old rancher.

    He tells the rancher; "I need to inspect your ranch for your water allocation." The old rancher says; "Okay, but don’t go in that field over there."

    The Water Resources representative drew himself up to reply in his most stern and officious manner, "Mister, I have the authority of the Provincial Government with me. See this card? This card means I am allowed to go WHEREVER I WISH on any agricultural land. No questions asked or answered. Have I made myself clear? Do you understand?"

    The old rancher nods politely and goes about his chores.

    Later, the old rancher hears loud screams and spies the water rep running for his life and close behind is the rancher’s bull. The bull is gaining with every step. The rep is clearly terrified, so the old rancher immediately throws down his tools, runs to the fence and yells at the top of his lungs;

    "Your card! Show him your card!"

  • Anti-Ageing with Vitamins and Herbs: Your Antioxidant Questions Answered

    Ever watched in frustration as something "rusted away?" Well, your body could be undergoing a very similar process due to the effects of free radicals. Antioxidants are "rust proofing" for your body, and are an important part of any longevity and health program.

    Antioxidants can be confusing – especially for someone without a background in biochemistry! They are very important to our good health though – so please read on, and I’ll try to make it easier to understand…

    Antioxidants are molecules which “quench” and render free radicals harmless. (Usually by donating an electron).

    Free radicals are unstable molecules with an unpaired electron. As they “steal” electrons from other molecules, they damage normal cells.

    What do free radicals do?

    The damage caused by free radicals is called oxidation. Rust on metal is an example of oxidative damage caused by free radicals. This “rusting” or oxidative damage to human cells has been linked to many diseases including heart disease, atherosclerosis, arthritis, cancer, cataracts, macular degeneration, immune suppression, Alzheimer’s and aging in general.

    Where do free radicals come from?

    Free radicals are generated in the body during normal cellular processes. Additional free radicals are generated in the body by stress (physical or emotional), environmental toxins (in air, water, food), smoking, alcohol, anesthetics and radiation.

    Where do antioxidants come from?

    The major antioxidants are made by the body itself. These include superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase, glutathione peroxidase. Certain vitamins, minerals, herbs, and other nutritional substances also perform as antioxidants. These are found in the foods we eat.

    The body makes enough antioxidants to neutralize free radicals generated by normal metabolism. When additional free radicals are created by stress, poor nutrition, environmental toxins, smoking, etc., the body cannot “keep up” with the free radicals. These excess free radicals are then "free" to damage normal cells.

    How do I protect myself from free radical damage?

    1. Avoid or minimize exposure to things that create free radicals: smoking, environmental toxins, alcohol excess, stress.
    2. Eat a nutritious diet so that the body can make it’s own “native” enzymes.
    3. Take additional antioxidants by way of diet, nutritional supplements, and herbs to ensure protection from free radical damage.

    Sources of Antioxidants:

    • Many herbs contain antioxidant substances.
    • Fruits and vegetables are the primary dietary sources of antioxidants.

    Super Foods are those rich in antioxidants:

    • Apricot
    • artichoke
    • blueberry and all other berries
    • broccoli
    • Brussels sprouts
    • cabbage
    • cherries
    • citrus
    • “greens” (beet, collard, kale, mustard, turnip, etc.)
    • lemons
    • soybeans
    • tangerines
    • tomatoes.

    Antioxidant Nutrients:

    Antioxidant Herbs:

    Other Antioxidants: