Green Christmas

Green toys, green pots and pans, green wrapping paper, green Christmas trees, green Christmas lights the list goes on......

It all makes sense, make a product that is manufactured from bio renewable material. I think the wool is being pulled over our eyes. Most of this stuff is manufactured over seas with the bottom line as the primary intent. Most of these so called renewable or recycles materials are from the scraps of plastic from the manufacturing process.

A family member with love in their heart chose a "green pan" for a gift for me and my family. They are non-stick and supposing have a Eco friendly-non toxic surface for cooking. If you read what the pans are made from it is a complete contradiction from what they are advertising. They are made from aluminum, a toxic element to ingest that has been shown to contribute to such disease like Alzheimer's.
Anyway, this green marketing campaign is becoming toxic.

AVOIDING AN ADVERSE DRUG REACTION

Researchers are now estimating that 3 to 6 percent of all hospital admissions are caused by dangerous, and often hidden, side-effects associated with prescription drugs. Even worse, 87 percent of these adverse drug reactions were not listed on the medication’s label. Between the years 1998 to 2005, hospital admissions—due to negative side-effects stemming from prescription medication—sky-rocketed from 34,966 cases to 89,842. With this came a 2.7 percent increase in deaths directly resulting from an adverse drug reaction. In 2005 the number of Americans who needlessly died as the result of lethal drug-related side-effects reached a disturbing 15,107 souls.It’s clear that America’s drug-safety evaluation system is full of flaws, making it very difficult to trust the medical community. That’s why every one of us must take our health seriously. If we don’t want to end up a medical statistic we must make permanent, healthy changes to our lifestyle. Healthy eating is a priority, as is exercise. Add regularly scheduled chiropractic adjustments to that mix and you’ll be on your way to a longer, healthier, better quality of life that is adverse drug reaction free.

[Source: Archives of Internal Medicine 9/10/2007]

CHIROPRACTIC IMPROVES ATHLETIC PERFORMANCE

A new study reveals that bicyclists can improve their performance by undergoing a short program of chiropractic care.The study involved six people, 4 male and 2 female. Three of the males and both females were competitive racers.Initially, the subjects were tested to determine their base line performance. Using a CompuTrainer--a stationary, computerized machine that allows the rider’s personal bike to be attached to it—each bicyclist participated in a race simulation. Researchers then recorded various data regarding strength, pressure and force. After the test, each biker was examined and adjusted by a chiropractor, then retested on the CompuTrainer one to two weeks later.A poll of the riders found that five reported a lower perceived effort of how hard they were working at the same workload during the retest. Five of the riders also experienced improvement in pedaling performance. These results indicate that a bicyclist can ride longer before fatiguing.Chiropractic adjustments improve all aspects of body performance by correcting misalignments of the spine, which interfere with nervous system and the body’s ability to function at 100 percent capacity. If this is what chiropractic adjustments can do for bicyclists, just image how beneficial chiropractic adjustments will be to your everyday living!

[Source: www.montanarochiropractic.com/computrainer.htm]

BEWARE OF VYTORIN

Data from a recent study shows that people taking the popular cholesterol-reducing heart medication, Vytorin, are 33 to 70 percent more likely to develop—and die from—cancer.The study, called SEAS, was initially launched to examine the effectiveness of Vytorin to prevent severe, age-related heart valve problems. During the course of the study researchers unexpectedly stumbled upon Vytorin’s link to cancer.Vytorin and its sister-drug, Zetia, are widely prescribed medications in the US, raking in over $4 billion a year for Merck and Schering-Plough. A statement by Merck and Schering-Plough acknowledged that the medications did seem to come with a higher risk of cancer, but added that the discovery was “an anomaly that, taken in light of all of the data, doesn’t support an association with Vytorin.”The problem with that statement is that current ongoing studies, such as IMPROVE-IT and SHARP, are investigating the Vytorin-cancer link, and what they’re finding does not look good for anyone who has been taking Vytorin.
[Source: “Heart drug’s safety scrutinized” USA Today Weekend Edition, 7/25/08]

ANTIBIOTICS LEAD TO ALLERGIES AND ASTHMA

As the worldwide medical community continues to prescribe unnecessary antibiotics—especially to young children—negative side effects are beginning to surface.A 2003 study at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit presented compelling evidence confirming the danger antibiotics. This study, authorized by Christine Cole Johnson, PhD, concluded that children who receive antibiotics within the first six months of life increase their risk of developing asthma and allergies to pets, ragweed, and dust mites.Researchers followed 448 children from birth to seven years of age. The children were evenly divided by gender. Of the entire group, 49% had received antibiotics in the first six months of life. Data gathered throughout the study showed that children who took at least one antibiotic as a baby were 1.5 times more likely to develop allergies, and 2.5 times more likely to develop asthma than children who did not receive antibiotics.

High Blood Pressure Drugs Lead to Bone Loss

A study in the April 14, 2008 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine reports that diuretics, commonly prescribed for hypertension (high blood pressure) and heart failure, can also leach calcium from bones and cause significant bone loss in older men taking the drugs.
Researchers at Griffin Hospital in Derby, Connecticut tested the bone density levels of 3,269 men over the age of 65. They reexamined the men 4.6 years later and also collected data on medication use during that time.
84 of the men were continuous users of loop diuretics, 181 were intermittent users and 3,004 were non-users. At the end of the study period, the average annual rate of decline in total hip bone mineral density was –0.33 among the non-users, -0.58 among the intermittent users and –0.78 among the continuous users, about 2.5 times that of the non-users.

Medical Errors Cost US Lives and Billions of Dollars

On April 8, 2008, HealthGrades, a health care ratings organization has released its fifth annual Patient Safety in American Hospitals Study, covering the years 2004 through 2006. It reports that medical errors resulted in 238,337 potentially preventable deaths of U.S.
Medicare patients and cost Medicare $8.8 billion.
The study reviewed records of 41 million Medicare patients. 3 percent of the patients experienced medical errors including anesthesia complications, bed sores, failure to rescue (from respiratory failure, pulmonary embolism or deep vein thrombosis, sepsis and abdominal wounds that split open after surgery), selected infections and numerous post-operative events. This percentage represents 1.1 million medical errors over the three-year period the study examined.
Patients who experienced medical errors had a 20 percent chance of dying from them. Failure to rescue alone accounted for at least 188,000 lives lost, or 128 deaths for every 1000 patients. Bed sores, failure to rescue and post-operative respiratory failure together accounted for 63.4 percent of the errors.
The report says they "now have convincing case studies that perfection is possible when will to change and improve is present and the effort is made to implement new practices. While these examples illustrate that we have a much clearer idea of what we need to do, formidable barriers remain. Many in the industry continue to deny that truly safe care is achievable, thus the status quo continues…"
"With the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services scheduled to stop reimbursing hospitals for treatment of eight major preventable errors, including objects left in the body after surgery and certain post-surgical infections, starting Oct. 1, the financial implications for hospitals are substantial," HealthGrades said in a prepared statement.
Commentary: Two things to think about. The first is more than 238,000 deaths (217 per day) that could have been prevented and that’s only among Medicare patients. If that number were extrapolated out to the total number of hospitalized patients in the U.S. it would have to be astronomical. Also, imagine the uproar if 217 people started dying every day while riding in airplanes. How long would it take the airline industry to find the problems and correct them? Medicine needs to apply the same due diligence to disease care.
Second, it’s bad enough that doctors have been leaving objects (tools and equipment) inside of people after surgery but they’ve been billing Medicare to go back in and remove them? And Medicare paid for it? No wonder the disease care system is in a shambles.