DIY mosquito trap protects against dengue fever, West Nile and other insect-borne diseases

September 05, 2014
by: L.J. Devon, Staff Writer
Source: Natural News

(NaturalNews) The dengue virus, transmitted by mosquitoes, is running rampant in tropical areas around the world. The virus can bring fever, headache, muscle pains, joint pains, rash and bleeding. It can even be deadly. One country, Brazil, has been in a perpetual state of emergency over the past two years because of dengue fever. Over 570 deaths were reported in 2013 alone. The situation is so dire that an entire biotech factory has been erected in Campinas, Brazil, to raise millions of genetically modified mosquitoes. The GM mosquitoes are being sent out into the country to mate with wild female mosquitoes. The offspring of this mating experiment are intended to die before they reach adulthood. This is supposed to reduce the number of dengue-carrying Aedes aegypti mosquitoes through the years, bringing down the infection rate.

Dengue virus vaccine doesn't grant 100 percent immunity

According to the World Health Organization, a new vaccine is being prepared for 2015 to address dengue fever. Test subjects who were injected at least three times with the experimental vaccine were 88.5 percent less likely to contract the most deadly form of dengue -- hemorrhagic fever. The efficacy for preventing dengue fever altogether was 56.5 percent, according to two years' worth of data from the Philippines' Department of Health.

While efforts to combat dengue fever on a global scale are noble, they do not come with 100 percent efficacy and reliability. Relying on these biotech methods alone could cause even more deaths, as people shrug off other more important preventive measures up front. On top of that, there might be some unintended consequences derived from releasing millions of genetically altered mosquitoes into nature at large.

Garlic and essential oils reduce contact with mosquitoes

Some of the most powerful measures to combat mosquitoes are found growing in the garden. Garlic is one compound that keeps the insects at bay. The essential oils of lemongrass, lemon eucalyptus and citronella are effective, too. Health officials could help those in dengue-stricken areas by informing all to start growing lemongrass and citronella plants along the outside of dwellings. By disturbing the mosquitoes' sense of smell, these essential oils can safely and naturally repel the insects, without causing allergic reactions in humans.

Mass production of this simple DIY mosquito trap could reduce dengue virus spread

What might be even more effective are mosquito traps that pull in and kill the pesky disease carriers en masse. Recently, Marynilad Water Services, Inc., won an award in an important health and wellness category at the inaugural Lions Health Awards in Cannes, France. Their creation was a simple DIY mosquito trap. Out of 1,400 entries, their invention was one of 16 awarded a "Bronze Lion" in the competition's Health and Wellness category.

To make the mosquito trap, one simply has to obtain a plastic water bottle, a small amount of water, a packet of brown sugar and a packet of yeast. According to the visual directions, the top of the bottle is to be cut off and turned upside down, with the drinking hole now facing down inside the bottle. The yeast and brown sugar is added to the small amount of water in the bottle. The mixture of sugar and yeast produces carbon dioxide which emits from the bottle, attracting mosquitoes. Once the mosquitoes go into the bottle, they suffocate and die. For the trap to be effective, the inventors added that the mixture must be replaced every two weeks.

Created en masse, this DIY mosquito trap would be rather effective, reducing the mosquitoes that carry dengue virus, West Nile or any other mosquito-borne illness.

Sources for this article include:

http://www.gmanetwork.com

http://sustainablepulse.com

http://www.newscientist.com

http://www.gov.ph

http://medicalxpress.com

http://www.naturalnews.com

http://science.naturalnews.com

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/046749_mosquito_traps_dengue_fever_West_Nile.html?utm_content=bufferc02cd&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer#ixzz3CuSCbgkQ

 

37 lies Americans tell themselves to avoid confronting reality

September 07
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
Source: Natural News


(NaturalNews) Have you noticed the incredible detachment from reality exhibited by the masses these days? The continued operation of modern society, it seems, depends on people making sure they don't acknowledge reality (or try to deal with it). "Denial" is what keeps every sector of civilization humming along: medicine, finance, government, agriculture and more.

The trouble with the denial approach is that eventually the lies collide with reality. Until that day comes, however, happy-go-lucky Americans are merrily enjoying their courtship with self delusion, repeating the following 37 lies to themselves as if they were true:

Lie #1) All FDA-approved medications are safe to consume in any combination, because the FDA protects the public.

Lie #2) Food prices keep going up because inflation is a natural force that can't be halted.

Lie #3) The mainstream media is telling me the truth when it reports on world events.

Lie #4) Chemical food additives are tested for their safety before being widely used across the food supply.

Lie #5) We can all pump groundwater out of the ground forever, and it will never run out.

Lie #6) We can also pump fossil fuels out of the ground forever, and they will never run out, either. Why worry?

Lie #7) If anything bad happens in terms of a national emergency or natural disaster, the government will take care of me.

Lie #8) It doesn't matter where my food comes from as long as it's cheap and delicious.

Lie #9) GMOs must be safe to eat because a bunch of scientists paid by the biotech industry all tell each other that GMOs are safe and therefore have reached "scientific consensus."

Lie #10) Government debt doesn't matter because the government can simply create more money any time they want.

Lie #11) Mercury in vaccines must be safe to inject into children, otherwise the CDC and FDA wouldn't allow it to be used in vaccines.

Lie #12) Organic produce is a waste of money. I'll buy conventional produce treated with pesticides and herbicides because the cost of all the cancer treatments I'll need 20 years later will be covered by Obamacare anyway.

Lie #13) The history taught to children in public schools is a true and accurate history. Columbus was best friends with the Indians, too!

Lie #14) Swallowing fluoride chemicals is good for babies and children, and that's why cities put fluoride into public water supplies.

Lie #15) Flu shots prevent the flu. That's why the package inserts for flu vaccines openly state there is no scientific evidence to support any conclusion that influenza vaccines prevent influenza.

Lie #16) Whatever is backed by "science" must be true. Science is never falsified by corrupt scientists or corporate agendas, and scientific conclusions are never wrong.

Lie #17) The global ecosystem can handle unlimited human pollution without any negative consequences. We can all continue to dump unlimited toxins into the environment.

Lie #18) Cell phone radiation is harmless. The reason we know that is because the cell phone companies hired scientists to say so.

Lie #19) If everybody else is doing something, it must be the right thing to do. After all, how could so many people be wrong?

Lie #20) We don't need to store food for emergencies because there will always be more food available at the grocery store.

Lie #21) There's no need to be concerned about Ebola or other infectious diseases in America because the vaccine companies can always and instantly create a new vaccine that works 100% of the time, with zero side effects.

Lie #22) Local police departments need battlefield military weapons, armored cars and body armor because the drug war demands it.

Lie #23) If I buy something at Whole Foods, it must be healthy and free from contaminants like toxic heavy metals. (Or is it really?)
Lie #24) My vote really counts in national elections. We live in a democracy where the People have power over the government.

Lie #25) My checking and savings accounts are perfectly safe no matter what happens because my bank is FDIC insured.

Lie #26) Raw dairy products are dangerous and deadly because the FDA told me so. Those horrible farmers selling raw dairy products should be locked away in prison.

Lie #27) My oncologist recommends chemotherapy treatment for me only because he cares about my wellbeing, not because his clinic sells the chemotherapy drugs at a huge profit.

Lie #28) The government isn't secretly recording my phone calls or reading my emails. Why would they? I've done nothing wrong!

Lie #29) Commercial dog food is healthy and nutritious for dogs. Dog treats made in China are also trustworthy and free from contaminants like lead.

Lie #30) The only way to prevent infectious disease is with a vaccine. Vitamin D and healthy immune support have nothing to do with it.

Lie #31) After I pay off my house, I own it free and clear. (Think again: Property taxes mean you're only "leasing" it from the county. Stop paying those taxes and you'll find out very quickly who really owns your home.)

Lie #32) Google will do no evil, and the fact that the company is developing humanoid battlefield robots, autonomous drones and super-human quantum computing brain chips is nothing to worry about.

Lie #33) Cancer is caused entirely by bad luck (or smoking) and has nothing to do with the food I eat or chemicals in my personal environment.

Lie #34) The radiation release from Fukushima wasn't that bad. Sure, it was many times larger than the Chernobyl disaster, but authorities say we have nothing to worry about.

Lie #35) Autism isn't caused by vaccines, and the way we know is because the CDC scientist who admitted to a massive conspiracy of scientific fraud to bury the evidence linking vaccines to autism should not be believed.

Lie #36) All foods certified as "organic" are automatically free of toxic heavy metals and contaminants.

Lie #37) Human civilization is the only intelligent civilization in the entire galaxy. Anything else would simply be too scary to contemplate.

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/046776_popular_lies_Americans_state_of_denial.html#ixzz3CjCX75wz

Lycopene Matches Statins in Improving Blood Vessel Function

June 24th 2014

Written By:

Margie King, Health Coach

Source: GreenMedInfo

 

We've known for decades that cardiovascular disease is notably lower in southern Europe especially compared to the U.S.  The Mediterranean diet, consisting of more fruits, vegetables, and olive oil, usually gets the credit. It's been shown to reduce the number of heart attacks and strokes in patients with high cardiovascular risk.

Now researchers have identified a key nutrient in the Mediterranean diet that deserves special mention.  They found that lycopene, a carotenoid found abundantly in tomatoes, helps reduce cardiovascular disease risk.

Lycopene gives tomatoes and other fruits and vegetables a distinctive red color.  It's a powerful antioxidant and 10 times more potent than vitamin E.  

In a study published in the journal PLOS One, researchers at the University of Cambridge demonstrate how lycopene improves the function of blood vessels in patients with cardiovascular disease.[i]

The researchers noted that in spite of aggressive cholesterol lowering with statins and other drugs, cardiovascular patients were still at risk of heart attack and stroke.  They believed that risk was due to impaired endothelial function.

The endothelium is a thin layer of cells that lines the inside of blood vessels and helps facilitate blood flow. Endothelial function predicts future cardiovascular events.  Having a healthy endothelium is considered an important factor in preventing heart disease.

In a randomized, double blind, placebo controlled, interventional trial the Cambridge researchers recruited 36 cardiovascular disease patients and 36 healthy volunteers.  The patients with cardiovascular disease were all on cholesterol-lowering statin drugs. Despite this, they still had a relatively impaired function of the endothelium compared to the healthy volunteers.

Half the subjects were given 7 mg per day of lycopene and the other half received a placebo.  The researchers measured forearm blood flow which is the gold standard for gauging the function of blood vessels.

They found that 7 mg of oral lycopene supplementation improved and normalized endothelial function in the patients, but not in healthy volunteers.

In just two months, lycopene improved the widening of the blood vessels by over a half (53%) compared to baseline in those taking the supplement.  That's important because constriction of the blood vessels is one of the key factors that can lead to heart attack and stroke.

The researchers noted that in spite of the statin medication, endothelial function was impaired in the patients with cardiovascular disease.  They also noted that the lycopene supplements significantly improved endothelial function even though there were no changes in blood pressure, lipid profiles or inflammation.

They also noted that the 53% improvement in endothelial function from 7 mg of lycopene was comparable to the effect other studies found with 20 mg of the drug simvastatin in high cholesterol patients.[ii]  But the lycopene was able to effect improvements that went beyond statin therapy in these patients with atherosclerosis.

And of course, lycopene does not have the problems related to statins which have been found to have over 300 adverse health problems. 

Lycopene is found naturally in tomatoes.  It's more potent when it's pureed and cooked.  Its power is also enhanced when cooked or consumed with olive oil, as is common in Mediterranean countries.
Watermelon and guava also contain significant amounts of lycopene. Other good sources include papaya, pink grapefruit, red bell peppers, purple cabbage, carrots, asparagus, and mangoes.

Link:greenmedinfo.com/blog/lycopene-matches-statins-improving-blood-vessel-function. 
 

Why I've ditched statins for good

23 Mar 2014
 By Haroun Gajraj
Source: The Telegraph

As experts clash over proposals that millions more of us take statins to prevent heart disease and stroke, a vascular surgeon explains why he feels better without them 

  When I had a routine health check-up eight years ago, my cholesterol was so high that the laboratory thought there had been a mistake. I had 9.3 millimoles of cholesterol in every litre of blood — almost twice the recommended maximum. 

 It was quite a shock. The GP instantly prescribed statins, the cholesterol-lowering drugs that are supposed to prevent heart disease and strokes. For eight years, I faithfully popped my 20mg atorvastatin pills, without side effects. Then, one day last May, I stopped. It wasn’t a snap decision; after looking more closely at the research, I’d concluded that statins were not going to save me from a heart attack and that my cholesterol levels were all but irrelevant.

When I informed my GP of my decision three months later, I wasn’t entirely honest. Rather than say I was sceptical about the drugs, I told my doctor I’d quit the statins because they were causing pain in my arm.

He didn’t bat an eyelid. Evidence from the drug industry published this month – evidence I suspect was heavily reliant on data from the drug industry, as Dr James Le Fanu pointed out on these pages last week – may suggest that side effects are uncommon, but previous studies have found that one in five people on statins suffers adverse side effects, from muscle pain and diarrhoea to memory loss and blurred vision.

The GP simply suggested I try another brand of statin. The sooner the better, he said, given that I’d already been off my prescription for three months. “Hang on,” I said. “Could you give me a blood test first?” When the results came back, he was amazed that my total blood cholesterol was lower than when I’d been on statins. After three months without the pills, it was 5.4mmol/l (5.4 millimoles per litre of blood) compared with 5.7 mmol/l a year earlier.

 The only major changes I’d made to my lifestyle since coming off statins were eliminating sugar (including alcohol and starchy foods such as bread) and eating more animal fat. Many experts now believe that sugar is emerging as a true villain in the heart-disease story; while after decades of demonisation, saturated fat has been acquitted of causing heart disease by a recent “meta” analysis of 70 studies by Cambridge University.

Typically, I was eating red meat three or four times a week and enjoying butter, full-fat milk and plenty of eggs. You would have thought that after three months on a diet so high in saturated fat, my cholesterol would have shot back up to pre-statin levels — but no, it came down and has stayed down seven months on. Not only that, but my levels of LDL (so-called bad cholesterol) were also lower than when I’d been on statins, and my ratio of HDL (so-called good cholesterol) to LDL was under four for the first time, an excellent sign, according to medical wisdom.

Not that I cared about any of this.

Yes, it was the statins that originally reduced my cholesterol levels so dramatically. But so what? I believe that high cholesterol has been a scapegoat for too long. Yes, it may, in some circumstances, be an indicator of heart disease but there is no evidence of a causal link. In my view, high total blood cholesterol or high LDL levels no more cause heart attacks than paramedics cause car crashes, even though they are present at the scene.

Just lowering cholesterol with drugs without sorting out the dietary and lifestyle factors that actually cause heart disease is nonsensical. Besides, there are plenty of other, more reliable indicators of heart-disease risk. What further astonished my GP was that on these indicators I was now apparently better off in other ways than when I’d been on statins. My blood pressure was down. For the first time in years, I was slimmer, especially around the belly. My triglycerides — a type of blood fat with a causal link to heart disease — were lower than at any time in the preceding eight years. My fasting blood glucose was at the optimum level, whereas a year earlier it had been too high. My total white blood count — a marker of inflammation — was lower.

My blood test for a marker called glycated haemoglobin (A1c), high levels of which are associated with heart disease and overall mortality, were bang on normal. Finally, my level of c-reactive protein (CRP) — a protein that rises in response to inflammation — was extremely low. So, biochemically, I was in excellent shape, better than when I’d been on the statins. “Have you taken up running?” asked my bemused GP.

No, I’d always run. For years, I’d exercised three times a week, eaten plenty of fish, refrained from smoking and tried to keep my stress levels low. The only thing I’d changed was my intake of sugar and animal fat.

That check-up was seven months ago and now, at 58, I’m not on a single tablet. My GP is happy. I feel better than I have in years and, at the same time, deeply concerned about proposals advising even wider use of statins.

Until 2005, statins were prescribed only to those with at least a 30 per cent or greater risk of having a heart attack within 10 years. This was then reduced to a 20 per cent risk. Now, draft NHS guidelines would have them dished out to those with just a 10 per cent risk — in other words, most men over the age of 50 and most women over the age of 60.

I am a vascular surgeon. Before founding a private clinic in Dorset 11 years ago, specialising in varicose veins, I worked in the NHS for 13 years. Back then, I didn’t question medical guidance on cholesterol, and thought statins were a wonder drug. And so they probably are, for men who have heart disease — not necessarily because they lower cholesterol, but because they may cut other risks such as the inflammation-marker CRP. Exercise, weight loss and omega 3 supplements also lower CRP.

But what about other groups — women, the elderly and people like me who have not been diagnosed with heart disease? The evidence that we will benefit from cholesterol-lowering drugs is ambiguous at best. The 2011 Hunt 2 study, one of the most recent and largest, followed 52,000 men and women in Norway aged 20-74 with no pre-existing heart disease, for 10 years.

The results for women were crystal clear. The lower a woman’s total cholesterol, the greater her risk of dying, either of heart disease or anything else, including cancer. This reflects findings in previous studies.

For men, high cholesterol was associated with heart disease and death from other causes. But so, too, was low cholesterol — below 5mmol/l. Again, this is only an association, not a causal link. A range of between 5mmol/l and 7mmol/l was the optimum level. Guess what? This is already the national average. In addition, numerous studies have linked high cholesterol levels with increased longevity in the elderly.

As for me, I have not been diagnosed with heart disease, and nobody in my family has had a heart attack. However, all four of my paternal uncles and my sister have diabetes. Research from Canada, published last year in the BMJ, has shown that statins raise the risk of diabetes, so that gives me little faith. The controversy over these drugs was reignited last week when Prof Sir Rory Collins from Oxford University warned that doctors’ hesitancy about prescribing them to those at risk could cost lives.

GPs are, by definition, generalists. They don’t have time to read and analyse data from every paper on every medical condition. Even so, in a recent survey by Pulse magazine, six in 10 GPs opposed the draft proposal to lower the risk level at which patients are prescribed statins. And 55 per cent said they would not take statins themselves or recommend them to a relative, based on the proposed new guidelines.

If that doesn’t speak volumes, I don’t know what does.

 

Link:  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/10717431/Why-Ive-ditched-statins-for-good.html.

Pomegranates Reverse Damage from Junk Food, Boost Heart Health

October 22nd, 2013
by Elizabeth Renter
Source: Natural Society

With chambers and blood-red insides, the physical appearance of pomegranates isn’t the only thing that ties them to the human heart. Research indicates these in-season delights are a heart-protective food that could even undo the bodily damage caused by junk food.

Researchers from Spain tested a new supplement on pigs. The supplement was made with polyphenols found in pomegranates – antioxidant compounds which are credited with numerous health benefits including heart protection.

The researchers first fed the pigs—whose cardiovascular systems are similar to ours—a diet of fatty, damaging foods. Unsurprisingly, this diet damaged the lining of their blood vessels. Damage to this lining, the endothelium, is often the first step in atherosclerosis, or the hardening of the arteries which leads to heart attacks and strokes.

This fatty diet left the pigs with less elastic vessels and caused them to produce less nitric acid, a gas that keeps vessels healthy in animals and humans alike. These changes are similar to the ones experienced in people who eat an unhealthy diet.

After the intentional vascular damage was done, the pigs were fed a daily dose of Pomanex, a supplement containing 200 mg of polyphenols. The researchers said the punicalagin-containing supplement was able to repair the damage.

“Enriching a diet with pomegranate polyphenols can help in preventing and retarding endothelial dysfunctions, which are among the first signs of atherosclerosis and strokes,” said researcher Dr. Lina Badimon.

Though while this study focuses on a specific product, this isn’t the first study to demonstrate the heart-healthy benefits of pomegranates in general – and other such studies weren’t a blatant plug for a man-made supplement.

A study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition indicated pomegranate juice was able to reduce oxidative stress and  plaque on arterial walls. Another found men taking pomegranate juice were able to reduce the plaque in their arteries by 30% in a year’s time. The control group, who didn’t take pomegranate juice, saw a plaque increase of 9%.

One other study not related to heart health found that pomegranate juice can significantly improve memory and brain health. In addition to heart protection and memory improvement, they can fight breast cancer and Candida albicans.

Pomegranates are in season right now, and you can absolutely reap their benefits without a fancy supplement.

Other Popular Stories:

1. Pomegranates Reduce Plaque in Arteries by 30% in Study
2. The One Superfruit that can Significantly Clean Your Arteries
3. Apples Found to Reduce Oxidative Stress, Reduce Blood Pressure, Boost Heart Health
4. Use this Common Fruit Juice to Boost Heart and Cardiovascular Health
5. Carrots, Beta-Carotene Found to Reduce Heart Attack Risk, Boost Heart Health
6. Breast Cancer Prevention Diet – Pomegranates Halt Breast Cancer Tumor Growth

Read more: http://naturalsociety.com/pomegranates-reverse-junk-food-damage-boost-heart/#ixzz2s58tHe3m
Follow us: @naturalsociety on Twitter | NaturalSociety on Facebook

12 Worst Endocrine Disruptors That Can Wreck Your Health

12 Worst Endocrine Disruptors That Can Wreck Your Health
 November 13, 2013
 By Dr. Mercola
Source:Mercola.com 

Common household goods, personal care products, and even food and water, are major sources of chemical exposure that can lead to an accumulation of toxins in your body. For obvious reasons, children are at greatest risk for adverse effects.
Many common household chemicals are known as endocrine disruptors, a number of which are found in plastic products. These chemicals are similar in structure to natural sex hormones such as estrogen, thereby interfering with their normal functions.
The Environmental Working Group (EWG) recently published a list of the 12 worst hormone-disrupting chemicals you may be coming into contact with on a regular basis. As stated in their report:¹

“There is no end to the tricks that endocrine disruptors can play on our bodies: increasing production of certain hormones; decreasing production of others; imitating hormones; turning one hormone into another; interfering with hormone signaling; telling cells to die prematurely; competing with essential nutrients; binding to essential hormones; accumulating in organs that produce hormones.”

The 12 Worst Hormone-Disrupting Chemicals

The EWG report includes many of the most well-known hormone wreckers, but also contains some that may surprise you, such as lead, mercury and arsenic. While these are known for other harmful health effects, hormone disruption is not typically discussed in relation to them.

For more info: http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/11/13/worst-endocrine-disruptors.aspx#.UoNSqqieL84.blogger

Natural Immunity: 8+ Natural Antibiotics to Replace the Pharmaceuticals for Good

November 11th, 2013
by Christina Sarich 

The overuse of antibiotics has become a modern-day epidemic. These drugs have depleted our natural immunity by killing the good bacteria in our guts and also creating super-bugs that have become resistant to almost any form of prescribed drug around. Instead of making yourself weaker, and depleting your body’s natural ability to cure itself from any number of ailments, try utilizing natural foods and herbs to ditch the Big Pharma meds for good.
Here are 8+ foods which harness natural antibiotic properties.
1. Astragalus – An adaptogen, meaning it is an overall tonic for the body, astragalus has been used for thousands of years in Chinese medicinal practices to boost the immune system and counteract physical, mental, and emotional stress. Research has shown that it can be very effective at treating colds, protecting the liver, and keeping viruses at bay.

Read more: http://naturalsociety.com/8-natural-antibiotics-immune-system-ditch-pharmaceuticals/#ixzz2kREv5iFw
Follow us: @naturalsociety on Twitter | NaturalSociety on Facebook

New law allows Colorado hemp crop at Springfield

18 hrs ago
Associated Press
Source:Yahoo News

SPRINGFIELD, Colo. (AP) -- Springfield farmer Ryan Loflin is now watching over one of Colorado's first industrial hemp crops in almost 60 years.

The passage of Amendment 64 in November allows commercial growing, even though hemp, likemarijuana, is illegal under federal law.

Hemp is genetically related to marijuana but contains little or no THC, the drug substance in marijuana. Hemp has dozens of uses in food, cosmetics, clothing and industrial materials.

"I believe this is really going to revitalize and strengthen farm communities," Loflin said last month. He grew up on a farm in Springfield but left after high school for a career in construction.

According to the Denver Post (http://tinyurl.com/c3c382n ), Loflin began planting Monday on 60 acres previously used to grow alfalfa. He and business partner Chris Thompson also are installing a seed press to produce hemp oil.

"This is monumental for our industry. It will unlock a clean industrial revolution that will be good for the economy, good for jobs and good for the environment," said Bruce Perlowin, chief executive of Hemp Inc., a hemp products company.

About 200 miles north of Springfield, Yuma County corn farmer Mike Bowman also is preparing to plant hemp this year.

He has been a frequent visitor to Washington, seeking to persuade federal officials to end the hemp prohibition that makes prospective Colorado growers technically criminals.

Until the federal-state legal disconnect is resolved, growers face the challenge of starting an industry without the benefits held by conventional farmers, such as federal crop insurance.

Colorado State University, the state's premier agricultural research institution, is not studying hemp because of the fear of losing federal contracts.

"The law is clear on this matter, and we do not want to do anything that would unintentionally result in personal criminal liability for CSU employees or that would disqualify the institution from obtaining future government funding," said Joseph Zimlich, CSU system board of governors chairman, in a recent letter to Congress.

___

Information from: The Denver Post, http://www.denverpost.com

The Illegal Herb that Fights Cancer

May 07 2011
Dr. Mercola
From Dr. Mercola's Website

Medical marijuana is now a $1.7-billion market in the U.S. This means that sales of medical marijuana rival the annual revenue generated by Viagra, a $1.9-billion business.

What's more, the medical marijuana market is expected to nearly double in the next five years, and that's just in the 15 U.S. states where the drug is legal. If another 20 states pass medical marijuana laws, which projections show is possible, the market could grow to $8.9 billion by 2016.

According to MSNBC:

"The cannabis industry as a whole -- including the underground black market and medical gray market -- generates anywhere from $18 billion to $35.8 billion a year."

In the video above, "Run From the Cure – the Rick Simpson Story," it's suggested that pharmaceutical companies and big business may be withholding a potential cancer cure -- hemp oil -- from the public in the interest of personal profit.

TreeHugger also recently reported on a number of hemp benefits in honor of Hemp History Week, including the fact that hemp seed is an excellent source of protein and has a:

" …perfectly balanced 1:3 ratio of naturally-occurring omega-3 and omega-6 essential fatty acids...unlike other seeds and nutritional oils, such as flax and fish fish oil, hemp seeds also contain super omega-3 stearidonic acid and super omega-6-gamma-linolenic acid in nutritionally relevant amounts that help to reduce inflammation and improve mental functioning, as well as make up for potentially impaired fatty acid metabolism."

They also noted that the reason why industrial hemp cannot be grown in the United States is because the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) refuses to acknowledge that hemp is not the same as marijuana. As TreeHugger reported:

"The United States is the only industrialized nation where growing industrial hemp is illegal. And because of that we're missing out on huge economic opportunity …

Apparently even though Canadian cops can tell the difference between high-THC cannabis plants (marijuana) and low-THC plants (industrial hemp), the US DEA can't be bothered."

Sources:
MSNBC March 24, 2011
TreeHugger May 4, 2011


Dr. Mercola's Comments:

Cannabis, or as it’s more commonly known marijuana, has been used for its medicinal properties for thousands of years. It’s been heralded as a “cure-all,” revered for its healing properties that not only help relieve pain but also have been highlighted as a potential cancer cure.

Hemp Vs. Marijuana: What’s the Difference?

Before I delve into the intriguing controversy surrounding medical marijuana, it’s important to note that the plants referred to as hemp and marijuana are not the same. Both are members of the Cannabis sativa plant species, but they are two distinct varieties.

Marijuana typically is high in THC (delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol) -- the compound responsible for the plant’s notorious psychoactive effect -- and low in CBD (cannabidiol) content. Both THC and CBD are known as cannabinoids, which interact with your body in a unique way I’ll describe later.

What’s interesting, however, is that CBD has been shown to block the effect of THC in the nervous system. So, marijuana plants are typically high in THC and low in CBD, which maximizes their psychoactive effects.

Hemp, on the other hand, is typically high in CBD and low in THC, as it is bred to maximize its fiber, seeds and oil, the items for which it is most commonly used. For more information on the difference between hemp and marijuana, here is a comprehensive article on the topic from the North American Industrial Hemp Council (NAIHC).

Why is it “Illegal” to Grow Hemp in the United States?

Ironically, despite their differences, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) classifies all C. sativa varieties as "marijuana," according to NAIHC.

This is why the United States is the only industrialized nation where growing industrial hemp is illegal. Well, technically it is not illegal, but growing it requires a permit from the DEA – and it is reportedly almost impossible to get one.

This is a shame for a variety of reasons, including:

* Hemp is healthy: Hemp seeds pack a powerful nutritional punch. Two tablespoons of shelled hemp seeds contain about 11 grams of protein and 2 grams of unsaturated omega-3 fatty acids. And, as TreeHugger reported , hemp seeds have a “ "perfectly balanced 1:3 ratio of naturally-occurring omega-3 and omega-6 essential fatty acids...unlike other seeds and nutritional oils, such as flax …”
* [WILL HAVE BULLET POINT] Hemp is good for the economy: The total retail value of North American hemp products was valued at around $400 million in 2009, but U.S. farmers are unable to benefit from this since hemp products are imported.

Perhaps soon hemp will become a U.S. product, however, as Ron Paul has once again submitted an official Congressional Record statement calling for the legalization of industrial hemp, You can find out more about the issues surrounding the legalization of hemp at Vote Hemp , a nonprofit organization dedicated to the acceptance of and free market for industrial hemp.

No matter what you call it, cannabis and its range of varieties, including marijuana, is said to be among the safest medicinal substances known, and there are nearly 25 million Americans who have health conditions that medical marijuana could reportedly treat (and this figure only includes those living in states where its use is currently legal), according to The State of the Medical Marijuana Markets 2011 -- yet fewer than 800,000 are taking part.

If marijuana is, in fact, capable of helping heal millions with very few, to no, side effects, why is this not being shouted from the rooftops?

Political Agendas and Red Tape Make Medical Marijuana a Nightmare

Marijuana was a popular botanical medicine in the 19th and 20th centuries, common in U.S. pharmacies of the time. Yet, in 1970, the herb was declared a Schedule 1 controlled substance, labeling it a drug with a “high potential for abuse” and “no accepted medical use.”

Three years later the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) was formed to enforce the newly created drug schedules, and the fight against marijuana use began.

The battle that has raged since is a long one, and you can read a brief history of marijuana prohibition in the Huffington Post -- but suffice to say that movements to legalize marijuana have persisted ever since. The most successful to date, and the one that is set to produce the first legal marijuana market in decades, is the medical marijuana movement.

As the State of the Medical Marijuana Markets’ executive summary states:

“Since 1996, marijuana proponents have pushed for individual states to recognize marijuana as a treatment for a range of illnesses. New medical research and changing public opinion have propelled these efforts.

Over the past 15 years, led by California, 15 states plus the District of Columbia have adopted laws permitting some form of marijuana consumption or distribution for medical use. These laws have been adopted by public referendums as well as legislation.”

Despite its legal status, it was common for the DEA to raid medical marijuana suppliers and even arrest patients, up until 2009 when the U.S. Justice Department essentially told federal prosecutors to lay off Americans producing and using medical marijuana in accordance with state laws.

Now in 2011, the report notes that a national market for medical marijuana is worth $1.7 billion -- and could grow to nearly $9 billion in the next five years. Investors are sitting on the sidelines, just waiting for the regulatory smoke to clear.

Many patients, too, are eager to get their hands on what some are calling the “cancer answer.”

Are You Being Kept in the Dark About a Potential Cancer Cure?

If you ask Canadian Rick Simpson, absolutely.

Simpson is the man in the video above who was openly growing hemp in his backyard and using it to produce hemp oil, which he gave, for free, to his friends and family. The oil, Simpson and many others claim, has a remarkable healing effect on countless diseases and conditions, including cancer.

After numerous raids by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Simpson was forced to seek asylum in another country, but his Web site, Phoenix Tears, still stands. There you can find instructions on how to produce hemp oil, as well as testimonials from people who say the oil has helped them. Mail Online also featured a story of 2-year-old Cash Hyde who was diagnosed with a serious brain tumor. His father secretly administered cannabis oil through his son’s feeding tube while he was in the hospital in failing health and the boy experienced a complete turnaround. He has now been declared cancer free.

As Simpson states:

“I have been providing people with instructions on how to make Hemp Oil medicines for about 8 years. The results have been nothing short of amazing. Throughout man’s history hemp has always been known as the most medicinal plant in the world. Even with this knowledge hemp has always been used as a political and religious football.

The current restrictions against hemp were put in place and maintained, not because hemp is evil or harmful, but for big money to make more big money, while we suffer and die needlessly.

Look at a proposal such as this; if we were allowed to grow hemp in our back yards and cure our own illnesses, what do you think the reaction of the pharmaceutical industry would be to such a plan?

Many large pharmaceutical companies that still exist today sold hemp based medicines in the 1800’s and early 1900’s. They knew then what I have recently found out. Hemp oil if produced properly is a cure-all that the pharmaceutical industry can’t patent.”

National Cancer Institute Changes Web Site about Cannabis’ “Anti-Tumor Effect”

In March 2011, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) updated its Web site to include some of the benefits of medical marijuana, reportedly noting:

“The potential benefits of medicinal Cannabis for people living with cancer include antiemetic effects, appetite stimulation, pain relief, and improved sleep. In the practice of integrative oncology, the health care provider may recommend medicinal Cannabis not only for symptom management but also for its possible direct antitumor effect.”

Being the first federal agency to publicly claim that marijuana may in fact be beneficial -- and possess anti-tumor properties -- it generated significant buzz on the Web. But soon after, NCI quickly changed its tune, editing the anti-tumor reference entirely out of its statement, which now reads:

“The potential benefits of medicinal Cannabis for people living with cancer include antiemetic effects, appetite stimulation, pain relief, and improved sleep. Though no relevant surveys of practice patterns exist, it appears that physicians caring for cancer patients who prescribe medicinal Cannabis predominantly do so for symptom management.”

NCI then tried to account for its changes by posting this explanation on March 30:

“In light of the attention garnered by the PDQ summary statement on Cannabis and cannabinoids, reviewers for the summary on the PDQ Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) Editorial Board reexamined the recently posted statement and decided to change the wording, in order to clarify the meaning that the Board originally intended to convey and to correct several possible misinterpretations.”

It’s a suspicious swap of wording, to say the least, but even more perplexing is why, if anti-tumor effects have been discovered from cannabis -- and they have -- why is this substance not the subject of major research studies?

Why are Medical Marijuana and Hemp Oil NOT Being Studied?

Even a quick review of the data suggests that cannabis deserves more than a passing glance as a potential treatment for various diseases. But in the United States, these studies are not being done.

According to a report by Americans for Safe Access:

“In the past three decades, there has been an explosion of international studies designed to investigate the therapeutic value of cannabis (marijuana).

However, drastic restrictions on research in the U.S. have meant that few clinical trials are being conducted domestically and none are being conducted as part of a sponsor-funded drug development plan aimed at obtaining Food & Drug Administration (FDA) approval for the prescription use of the botanical plant itself.

Meanwhile, research teams in Great Britain, Spain, Italy, Israel, and elsewhere have confirmed - through case studies, basic research, pre-clinical, and preliminary clinical investigations - the medical value of cannabis … “

It is easy to see why drug companies would want no part in funding research studies on a plant that can’t be patented. If they were to discover that it could cure cancer, patients would be able to grow it themselves right in their own backyard … this is not something the pharmaceutical companies would want you to know about.

Simpson, who keep in mind has been giving away hemp oil for free, is so convinced of its usefulness that he states on his Web site:

“When the hemp plant is grown for medicinal use, you now have your own medical system that is much safer and effective than anything our current medical system provides. You still may require a doctor to set your broken leg, but you will no longer need the chemicals they have been pushing upon us. Hemp is medicine for the masses and no one has the right to control its use.”

Of course, in the United States its use is controlled and even those who have a legitimate medical need can have a hard time getting a steady supply. This may change if more research continues to bear out marijuana’s healing properties, but for now even the ability to research the substance is tightly controlled. As the Safe Access report states:

“ … the federal monopoly on the supply of cannabis has fundamentally limited FDA-approved clinical research to investigate its safety and efficacy in controlling symptoms of serious and chronic illnesses.

In the United States, research is stalled, and in some cases blocked, by a complicated federal approval process, restricted access to research-grade cannabis, and the refusal of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to license private production of cannabis for use exclusively in federally approved research.”

This certainly does make the fervent war to keep marijuana out of the hands of Americans take on new meaning …

How Cannabis Works: Cannabinoids and the Cannabinoid Receptor System

There are more than 60 chemical compounds known as cannabinoids in the marijuana plant. A report by Dr. Manuel Guzman suggests that these active components of cannabis and their derivatives are potential anti-cancer agents. He wrote in the journal Nature Reviews:

“ … these compounds [cannabinoids] have been shown to inhibit the growth of tumour cells in culture and animal models by modulating key cell-signaling pathways. Cannabinoids are usually well tolerated, and do not produce the generalized toxic effects of conventional chemotherapies.”

Cannabinoids interact with your body by way of naturally occurring cannabinoid receptors embedded in cell membranes throughout your body. There are cannabinoid receptors in your brain, lungs, liver, kidneys, immune system and more; the therapeutic (and psychoactive) properties of marijuana occur when a cannabinoid (such as the THC produced by the cannabis plant) activates a cannabinoid receptor.

Your body also has naturally occurring endocannabinoids similar to THC that stimulate your cannabinoid receptors and produce a variety of important physiologic processes.

So your body is actually hard-wired to respond to cannabinoids through this unique cannabinoid receptor system; research is ongoing on just how far its impact on your health reaches, but to date it’s known that cannabinoid receptors play an important role in many body processes, including metabolic regulation, cravings, pain, anxiety, bone growth, and immune function.

A report by the American College of Physicians (ACP) further notes that:

“Marijuana has been smoked for its medicinal properties for centuries. It was in the U.S. Pharmacopoeia until 1942 when it was removed because federal legislation made the drug illegal … Still, the overwhelming number of anecdotal reports on the therapeutic properties of marijuana sparks interest from scientists, health care providers, and patients.

Over the past 20 years, researchers have discovered cannabinoid receptors: CB1, which mediates the central nervous system (CNS), and CB2, which occurs outside the CNS and is believed to have anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressive activity.

These scientific developments have revealed much information supporting expansion of research into the potential therapeutic properties of marijuana and its cannabinoids.”

ACP states that research to date suggests these substances may be useful for:

* Appetite stimulation
* Glaucoma
* Neurological and movement disorders
* Pain relief

What Does the Research Say About Medical Marijuana?

The studies that have been conducted so far show some promise for the use of cannabis in the treatment of a wide range of health conditions, including potentially cancer. For instance, in 2009 a study in the journal Cancer Prevention Research found that marijuana smokers have a lower risk of head and neck cancers than non-marijuana smokers.

Harvard researchers also found that THC in marijuana cuts tumor growth in lung cancer while significantly reducing its ability to spread.

There is also a wealth of research linking marijuana with pain relief and improved sleep. In one recent study, just three puffs of marijuana a day for five days helped those with chronic nerve pain to relieve pain and sleep better.

Americans for Safe Access also has links to research studies suggesting that cannabis may help in the treatment or prevention of Alzheimer’s disease and cancer, while the International Association for Cannabis as Medicine highlights the following medical uses:

Nausea Vomiting Anorexia Cachexia (Wasting Syndrome)
Spasticity Movement Disorders Pain Glaucoma
Epilepsy Asthma Dependency and Withdrawal Psychiatric Symptoms
Autoimmune Diseases Inflammation High Blood Pressure Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

For more on the latest research, you can also see this database of clinical studies and case reports, which is maintained by the International Association for Cannabis. And, for those who are interested, here is an even more extensive list of marijuana clinical studies, categorized by disease/ailment.

Marijuana is NOT Harmless …

There are certainly some downsides to marijuana use that need to be addressed, particularly if you are thinking of smoking it for recreational purposes.

Marijuana use can be addicting, and no doubt families have been broken up and jobs lost over its use. In the short-term, marijuana use can cause trouble with your ability to think clearly and may impair short-term memory. Marijuana also leads to motor skill impairment and affects alertness, coordination and reaction time, which is why it should never be used prior to driving.

There is also some evidence that marijuana use can exacerbate psychotic symptoms in those with schizophrenia or other psychotic disorders.

It’s also been suggested that marijuana use can serve as a “gateway” drug that eventually leads to the use of “harder” drugs like cocaine and heroine, although this has been debated. Marijuana use among children and teens can also have dire consequences, as drug use of any kind may encourage risky choices and irresponsible behaviors.

Practical Considerations on Using Marijuana

While the vast majority of marijuana use is through burning and inhalation, it is worth noting that anytime you heat materials and inhale them you run the risk of introducing toxic elements into your system. This is very similar to using tobacco. Like tobacco it is best to only use organic versions. Any pesticides that are on the material that is burned and inhaled will dramatically increase its toxicity.

Smoking marijuana will also produce carbon monoxide and tar as byproducts of combustion. Additionally, smoking marijuana from a bong (or waterpipe) has been linked to the spread of tuberculosis.

It is possible to avoid these risks entirely by either securing cannabis in hemp oil form or, as many medical marijuana patients do, using a vaporizer. The device vaporizes marijuana without any of the combustion byproducts, allowing for a clean route of ingestion.

It is certainly ironic that a natural substance like marijuana is illegal while prescription drugs that are prescribed by doctors every day kill over 100,000 Americans a year and get the government’s gold seal of approval. But you never could grow a drug like Lipitor, Avandia, or Ritalin in your backyard the way you could marijuana … and perhaps therein lies the problem.

If one chooses to use marijuana, from a health perspective it would seem the safest way to use it would be to eat it (along with some fat, as THC is fat-soluble and will not dissolve in water). It is important to understand though that for nearly everyone in most countries, primarily for political reasons, using marijuana is an illegal activity that could result in serious legal consequences.

If you are looking for a natural form of pain relief that is not currently illegal, you can find natural alternatives by searching this site and also reading my comment on this past article.


Related Links:
Recreational Drugs FAR Less Likely to Kill You than Prescribed Drugs!
Soy's New Competition: Hemp
Pot For MS?

The Illegal Herb that Fights Cancer

May 07 2011

Posted By Dr. Mercola

Medical marijuana is now a $1.7-billion market in the U.S. This means that sales of medical marijuana rival the annual revenue generated by Viagra, a $1.9-billion business.

What's more, the medical marijuana market is expected to nearly double in the next five years, and that's just in the 15 U.S. states where the drug is legal. If another 20 states pass medical marijuana laws, which projections show is possible, the market could grow to $8.9 billion by 2016.

According to MSNBC:

"The cannabis industry as a whole -- including the underground black market and medical gray market -- generates anywhere from $18 billion to $35.8 billion a year."

In the video above, "Run From the Cure – the Rick Simpson Story," it's suggested that pharmaceutical companies and big business may be withholding a potential cancer cure -- hemp oil -- from the public in the interest of personal profit.

TreeHugger also recently reported on a number of hemp benefits in honor of Hemp History Week, including the fact that hemp seed is an excellent source of protein and has a:

" …perfectly balanced 1:3 ratio of naturally-occurring omega-3 and omega-6 essential fatty acids...unlike other seeds and nutritional oils, such as flax and fish fish oil, hemp seeds also contain super omega-3 stearidonic acid and super omega-6-gamma-linolenic acid in nutritionally relevant amounts that help to reduce inflammation and improve mental functioning, as well as make up for potentially impaired fatty acid metabolism."

They also noted that the reason why industrial hemp cannot be grown in the United States is because the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) refuses to acknowledge that hemp is not the same as marijuana. As TreeHugger reported:

"The United States is the only industrialized nation where growing industrial hemp is illegal. And because of that we're missing out on huge economic opportunity …

Apparently even though Canadian cops can tell the difference between high-THC cannabis plants (marijuana) and low-THC plants (industrial hemp), the US DEA can't be bothered."

Sources:
MSNBC March 24, 2011
TreeHugger May 4, 2011


Dr. Mercola's Comments:

the hands of Americans take on new meaning …Cannabis, or as it’s more commonly known marijuana, has been used for its medicinal properties for thousands of years. It’s been heralded as a “cure-all,” revered for its healing properties that not only help relieve pain but also have been highlighted as a potential cancer cure.

Hemp Vs. Marijuana: What’s the Difference?

Before I delve into the intriguing controversy surrounding medical marijuana, it’s important to note that the plants referred to as hemp and marijuana are not the same. Both are members of the Cannabis sativa plant species, but they are two distinct varieties.

Marijuana typically is high in THC (delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol) -- the compound responsible for the plant’s notorious psychoactive effect -- and low in CBD (cannabidiol) content. Both THC and CBD are known as cannabinoids, which interact with your body in a unique way I’ll describe later.

What’s interesting, however, is that CBD has been shown to block the effect of THC in the nervous system. So, marijuana plants are typically high in THC and low in CBD, which maximizes their psychoactive effects.

Hemp, on the other hand, is typically high in CBD and low in THC, as it is bred to maximize its fiber, seeds and oil, the items for which it is most commonly used. For more information on the difference between hemp and marijuana, here is a comprehensive article on the topic from the North American Industrial Hemp Council (NAIHC).

Why is it “Illegal” to Grow Hemp in the United States?

Ironically, despite their differences, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) classifies all C. sativa varieties as "marijuana," according to NAIHC.

This is why the United States is the only industrialized nation where growing industrial hemp is illegal. Well, technically it is not illegal, but growing it requires a permit from the DEA – and it is reportedly almost impossible to get one.

This is a shame for a variety of reasons, including:

* Hemp is healthy: Hemp seeds pack a powerful nutritional punch. Two tablespoons of shelled hemp seeds contain about 11 grams of protein and 2 grams of unsaturated omega-3 fatty acids. And, as TreeHugger reported , hemp seeds have a “ "perfectly balanced 1:3 ratio of naturally-occurring omega-3 and omega-6 essential fatty acids...unlike other seeds and nutritional oils, such as flax …”
* [WILL HAVE BULLET POINT] Hemp is good for the economy: The total retail value of North American hemp products was valued at around $400 million in 2009, but U.S. farmers are unable to benefit from this since hemp products are imported.

Perhaps soon hemp will become a U.S. product, however, as Ron Paul has once again submitted an official Congressional Record statement calling for the legalization of industrial hemp, You can find out more about the issues surrounding the legalization of hemp at Vote Hemp , a nonprofit organization dedicated to the acceptance of and free market for industrial hemp.

No matter what you call it, cannabis and its range of varieties, including marijuana, is said to be among the safest medicinal substances known, and there are nearly 25 million Americans who have health conditions that medical marijuana could reportedly treat (and this figure only includes those living in states where its use is currently legal), according to The State of the Medical Marijuana Markets 2011 -- yet fewer than 800,000 are taking part.

If marijuana is, in fact, capable of helping heal millions with very few, to no, side effects, why is this not being shouted from the rooftops?

Political Agendas and Red Tape Make Medical Marijuana a Nightmare

Marijuana was a popular botanical medicine in the 19th and 20th centuries, common in U.S. pharmacies of the time. Yet, in 1970, the herb was declared a Schedule 1 controlled substance, labeling it a drug with a “high potential for abuse” and “no accepted medical use.”

Three years later the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) was formed to enforce the newly created drug schedules, and the fight against marijuana use began.

The battle that has raged since is a long one, and you can read a brief history of marijuana prohibition in the Huffington Post -- but suffice to say that movements to legalize marijuana have persisted ever since. The most successful to date, and the one that is set to produce the first legal marijuana market in decades, is the medical marijuana movement.

As the State of the Medical Marijuana Markets’ executive summary states:

“Since 1996, marijuana proponents have pushed for individual states to recognize marijuana as a treatment for a range of illnesses. New medical research and changing public opinion have propelled these efforts.

Over the past 15 years, led by California, 15 states plus the District of Columbia have adopted laws permitting some form of marijuana consumption or distribution for medical use. These laws have been adopted by public referendums as well as legislation.”

Despite its legal status, it was common for the DEA to raid medical marijuana suppliers and even arrest patients, up until 2009 when the U.S. Justice Department essentially told federal prosecutors to lay off Americans producing and using medical marijuana in accordance with state laws.

Now in 2011, the report notes that a national market for medical marijuana is worth $1.7 billion -- and could grow to nearly $9 billion in the next five years. Investors are sitting on the sidelines, just waiting for the regulatory smoke to clear.

Many patients, too, are eager to get their hands on what some are calling the “cancer answer.”

Are You Being Kept in the Dark About a Potential Cancer Cure?

If you ask Canadian Rick Simpson, absolutely.

Simpson is the man in the video above who was openly growing hemp in his backyard and using it to produce hemp oil, which he gave, for free, to his friends and family. The oil, Simpson and many others claim, has a remarkable healing effect on countless diseases and conditions, including cancer.

After numerous raids by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Simpson was forced to seek asylum in another country, but his Web site, Phoenix Tears, still stands. There you can find instructions on how to produce hemp oil, as well as testimonials from people who say the oil has helped them. Mail Online also featured a story of 2-year-old Cash Hyde who was diagnosed with a serious brain tumor. His father secretly administered cannabis oil through his son’s feeding tube while he was in the hospital in failing health and the boy experienced a complete turnaround. He has now been declared cancer free.

As Simpson states:

“I have been providing people with instructions on how to make Hemp Oil medicines for about 8 years. The results have been nothing short of amazing. Throughout man’s history hemp has always been known as the most medicinal plant in the world. Even with this knowledge hemp has always been used as a political and religious football.

The current restrictions against hemp were put in place and maintained, not because hemp is evil or harmful, but for big money to make more big money, while we suffer and die needlessly.

Look at a proposal such as this; if we were allowed to grow hemp in our back yards and cure our own illnesses, what do you think the reaction of the pharmaceutical industry would be to such a plan?

Many large pharmaceutical companies that still exist today sold hemp based medicines in the 1800’s and early 1900’s. They knew then what I have recently found out. Hemp oil if produced properly is a cure-all that the pharmaceutical industry can’t patent.”

National Cancer Institute Changes Web Site about Cannabis’ “Anti-Tumor Effect”

In March 2011, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) updated its Web site to include some of the benefits of medical marijuana, reportedly noting:

“The potential benefits of medicinal Cannabis for people living with cancer include antiemetic effects, appetite stimulation, pain relief, and improved sleep. In the practice of integrative oncology, the health care provider may recommend medicinal Cannabis not only for symptom management but also for its possible direct antitumor effect.”

Being the first federal agency to publicly claim that marijuana may in fact be beneficial -- and possess anti-tumor properties -- it generated significant buzz on the Web. But soon after, NCI quickly changed its tune, editing the anti-tumor reference entirely out of its statement, which now reads:

“The potential benefits of medicinal Cannabis for people living with cancer include antiemetic effects, appetite stimulation, pain relief, and improved sleep. Though no relevant surveys of practice patterns exist, it appears that physicians caring for cancer patients who prescribe medicinal Cannabis predominantly do so for symptom management.”

NCI then tried to account for its changes by posting this explanation on March 30:

“In light of the attention garnered by the PDQ summary statement on Cannabis and cannabinoids, reviewers for the summary on the PDQ Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) Editorial Board reexamined the recently posted statement and decided to change the wording, in order to clarify the meaning that the Board originally intended to convey and to correct several possible misinterpretations.”

It’s a suspicious swap of wording, to say the least, but even more perplexing is why, if anti-tumor effects have been discovered from cannabis -- and they have -- why is this substance not the subject of major research studies?

Why are Medical Marijuana and Hemp Oil NOT Being Studied?

Even a quick review of the data suggests that cannabis deserves more than a passing glance as a potential treatment for various diseases. But in the United States, these studies are not being done.

According to a report by Americans for Safe Access:

“In the past three decades, there has been an explosion of international studies designed to investigate the therapeutic value of cannabis (marijuana).

However, drastic restrictions on research in the U.S. have meant that few clinical trials are being conducted domestically and none are being conducted as part of a sponsor-funded drug development plan aimed at obtaining Food & Drug Administration (FDA) approval for the prescription use of the botanical plant itself.

Meanwhile, research teams in Great Britain, Spain, Italy, Israel, and elsewhere have confirmed - through case studies, basic research, pre-clinical, and preliminary clinical investigations - the medical value of cannabis … “

It is easy to see why drug companies would want no part in funding research studies on a plant that can’t be patented. If they were to discover that it could cure cancer, patients would be able to grow it themselves right in their own backyard … this is not something the pharmaceutical companies would want you to know about.

Simpson, who keep in mind has been giving away hemp oil for free, is so convinced of its usefulness that he states on his Web site:

“When the hemp plant is grown for medicinal use, you now have your own medical system that is much safer and effective than anything our current medical system provides. You still may require a doctor to set your broken leg, but you will no longer need the chemicals they have been pushing upon us. Hemp is medicine for the masses and no one has the right to control its use.”

Of course, in the United States its use is controlled and even those who have a legitimate medical need can have a hard time getting a steady supply. This may change if more research continues to bear out marijuana’s healing properties, but for now even the ability to research the substance is tightly controlled. As the Safe Access report states:

“ … the federal monopoly on the supply of cannabis has fundamentally limited FDA-approved clinical research to investigate its safety and efficacy in controlling symptoms of serious and chronic illnesses.

In the United States, research is stalled, and in some cases blocked, by a complicated federal approval process, restricted access to research-grade cannabis, and the refusal of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to license private production of cannabis for use exclusively in federally approved research.”

This certainly does make the fervent war to keep marijuana out of the hands of Americans take on new meaning …

Nutrition - quality whole foods are the currency of life

Whether you believe in creation, or evolution or are undecided, most of us would agree that our bodies (that is our anatomy and physiology and biochemistry - which is really just how we process food and what we do with it) is substantially the same as that of our recent ancestors. So if we have the same body types and we process our food the same way as our great grandparents and great-great grandparents, can we expect dramatic consequences from eating the processed, irradiated, genetically engineered, refined and synthetic "foods" that our ancestors never had access to and never ate?

Indeed we can expect those consequences! Let's consider what happens if you substitute soda or Kool-Aid in your washing machine instead of water. How much longer would it work? What happens if you feed mayonnaise to a goldfish, french fries to a cow, donuts to a horse, assorted chemicals to a human? What happens when we substitute synthetic products for the water and many different nutrients that our cells and our children's cells and internal organs need simply to function well? In fact, the very sad consequences of the latest generations' food choices is becoming more apparent everyday as we are now seeing chronic diseases become epidemic in our society. The United States has the worst health status (life expectancy, morbidity, obesity and infant mortality) of any of the industrialized nations, yet we spend the most money on "healthcare" and take the most pharmaceuticals. Why are Americans getting sicker and sicker while drugging ourselves more and more?

The great expense of poor food choices is charged to both our bodies and the future, as well as to our wallets. A recent experimental trip to a large fast food chain cost $17.26 for four sandwiches and four "regular fries." For my $17.26, I got 2.80 pounds, net weight, of "food," once I had thrown out all the packaging. This amounted to over six dollars per pound, which is triple the average price of organic foods in a typical health food store. And most people think that fast food is cheap, and organic food is expensive!
Forget what you ate until today. What you eat from now on is vitally important to your continued well-being.

Until just a few generations ago, our ancestors were wonderfully fit and healthy compared with present-day generations. The majority lived good, active, healthy lives and ultimately died peacefully in their sleep. Today that is a rarity. Whereas chronic disease, chronic pain, and prolonged end-of-life care were rare for our ancestors, it is becoming much more the expected outcome for us. What single difference between these two centuries impacts our bodies the strongest? The overwhelmingly different factor in our lives is the refined, processed, chemical products that we eat, that our ancestors simply did not eat.
Do we really want to live this way? Let's apply some good, plain common sense to food choices.

Naturopathic physicians have come to understand that, just as you cannot pour soft drinks into your car and expect good performance, you cannot put synthetic and poor quality solids and liquids into your body and expect continued good health. Also, if our species, for better or worse, whether created, evolved or in-between, performs best on whole foods (vegetables, fruits, nuts, eggs, meats, etc.), then we can understand that putting synthetic liquid or solid wastes in your body will simply trash your most valuable possession: your own good health.
What's so great about good health?

Neighbors, co-workers, teachers, mentors and even friends can come and go. Money comes and goes. Material possessions can only be enjoyed by people who are comfortable in their own bodies. On the other hand, your good healthy body, as you preserve and care for it now, is your most valuable financial asset and your very best assurance of a strong youth full of opportunities, as well as a secure, successful middle age and retirement years. There is a lot about naturopathic medicine that is just good plain common sense. As Henry Lindlahr, one of the founding fathers of naturopathic medicine, said in Philosophy of Natural Therapeutics - "Medicines are in conformity with the constructive principle in nature insofar as they, in themselves, are not injurious or destructive to the human organism and insofar as they act as tissue foods and promote the neutralization and elimination of morbid matters and poisons."

In fact, this is exactly the goal of naturopathic medicine: to point out the foods that the patient needs, to promote the elimination of toxins, and above all to follow Hippocrates' instruction to First Do No Harm. In fact, First Do No Harm is the first of the naturopathic principles.

Lindlahr instructed doctors to give patients what they need, take away the toxins that destroy health, and to know when to refrain from doing too much. What could be more important or helpful for a doctor to do for his or her patients than that?
Food choices are a fork in the road that is always in front of you, where one way leads to discomfort and disease, and the other leads to enjoyable life.

It is never too late to improve your health. Food choices are always right there in front of you, with every supermarket item you either stop at or walk past, every restaurant that you either stop at or drive past, allowing you a better choice than what you may have made before.

But can we just turn 180 degrees from soda and fries on the one hand to whole foods on the other hand? How easy is it to start eating collard greens or squash or walnuts? Many people cringe at the idea of eating unfamiliar vegetables, such as arugula, mustard greens, turnip, etc. This is a result of never having eaten these foods prepared in an appetizing and satisfying way. I, along with the rest of my family, also had unthinkingly avoided mustard greens, out of a mistaken assumption of what they might taste like. Then I noticed the fine print on the label of the organic mustard greens from Cal-Organic Farms suggested a recipe, which I have modified as follows: fry some turkey bacon or regular (pork) bacon in a large pot and chop it in small pieces. Add washed, chopped mustard greens and enough water to cover. Boil the mustard greens, but only until slightly wilted. Too many people make the mistake of cooking greens to death, and then being displeased by both the color and the texture of the severely disintegrated leaves that result. What you are looking for is a little wilting, but with the color still bright, and still a succulent, pleasant (believe it or not) flavor. Cynthia Lair ND has written a wonderful cookbook with similar recipes titled Feeding the Whole Family.

So in general, what should we eat, ideally? In addition to the above cookbook, there are two other books that may be considered as good general nutritional guides, one a best-selling paperback, and the other a nutrition textbook. The first is Age Defying Diet, by the well-known but often misinterpreted Dr. Robert Atkins. If we manage to put out of our minds for a moment the triple bacon cheeseburgers and candy bars bearing his name that we have come to associate with Dr. Atkins, then there is a lot to be gained from Age-Defying Diet. Quite surprisingly, Atkins encourages much vegetables and fruits along with the meat, dairy, eggs and nuts in his book. In fact, at one point he suggests eating six cups of green vegetables per day. Dr. Atkins' arguments for a whole foods diet are very well documented from hundreds of research article citations. This is in addition to the experiences of approximately 30,000 patients who came through the Atkins Center during his lifetime. In fact, he says, "I know from my own experience with thousands of patients and from avidly reading numerous studies from Europe and the United States that those who consume a diet rich in fresh fruits and vegetables have significantly better health profile than those who eat other carbohydrates..." Robert Atkins MD, Age-Defying Diet. The reason that many people think of meat-only diets in connection with Dr. Atkins is because his weight-loss regimen is considerably more protein-heavy than his maintenance diet, which he describes in Age-Defying Diet. It is the maintenance diet that you want to begin and make peace with, and stay with, in order to successfully and contentedly live on all the foods you need and only the foods you need.

Even better is Dr. Joseph Mercola's book Total Health Cookbook and Program. Dr. Mercola appreciates the differences among the various metabolic types. Some individuals should have a diet that somewhat favors meat while others should have a diet that somewhat favors vegetables. Of course everyone should include some of both in their daily diet. Included in the book is a section on determining your metabolic type.

Another wonderful and well-referenced book on nutrition, that is more oriented toward the health care professions, is Medical Nutrition from Marz, by Russell Marz, ND. Dr. Marz does a wonderful job of bringing the biochemistry to life and relating nutritional strategies to various disease states. However, a companion primer on biochemistry may be necessary for the uninitiated reader.
Here are the best foods in a nutshell, including the nut: your body already truly and deeply loves vegetables, even if your taste buds don't love them yet.

Maximize whole vegetables. These are best organic and either raw or minimally cooked. In fact, fill up on vegetables all you like. That way you'll have less room for junk. If this sounds too simple to be true, remember that this ridiculously simple rule is the food maxim of healthy, slim adults. Try it, even if you only do it late in the day or every other day. If you can't find much fresh organic food in your area, try looking into the new movement called Community Supported Agriculture. This is a fast growing movement of small local farms throughout the United States that sell fresh seasonal food, usually organic, by subscription. You either pick it up at the farm or at an intermediate location, or they deliver to you. See www.csacenter.org. Once you try organic food right from the field, that has not been trucked hundreds or thousands of miles, you'll love the freshness of the produce so much, it would be hard to go back to supermarket food that has either been sitting around two weeks before you buy it, or worse, that came off an assembly line overlooking the industrial landscape surrounding the New Jersey turnpike. (That is where your processed food additives and flavorings and colorings come from, you know.) You think junk food can be addicting? Try healthy food! Freshness and taste and the deepest satisfaction of your body's basic metabolic needs are food addictions too! Once you are hooked, let them be your vices.
A rainbow of vegetables and fruits

Make your meal a rainbow. Green vegetables are such a staple of a healthy diet that they should be eaten every day. However, wonderful as green vegetables are, they do not provide the full spectrum of nutrients. Remember also the orange vegetables, such as sweet potato, squash, pumpkin and orange bell pepper, which provide the very important flavonoids. Red vegetables, such as tomatoes, are also important for lycopene. The liver alone has several hundred functions. These many jobs require the fuel of each of the different beneficial molecules found in a rich variety of healthy foods. In contrast, such nutrients are not available in junk food, even if they may have been added back in the factory.

Fruits are excellent, but avoid them in any concentrated form. Jams, jellies, fruit juice and other fruit-based processed foods are so concentrated that they produce high insulin responses. Insulin rushes are the very most important thing you need to avoid in order to maintain good health and appropriate weight. If you find yourself able to spend an hour in the kitchen a few times a year, try this simple recipe for unsweetened preserves.

Have a rainbow of whole fruits for the same reason as having a rainbow of vegetables. You need the nutrients that are represented in the various colors.
Meats, dairy, nuts, legumes and seeds

If you seem to do well eating meat, then go for high quality meat. Your best choices are organic, free-range meats. The more people ask for these in supermarkets, the more supermarkets will begin to carry them. In addition to the usual meats - buffalo, ostrich and venison are all nutritious and quite good. Roasting is better than frying. Organ meats such as liver are more highly nutritious than muscle meats, but both are good. Eggs and organic and raw cheese and milk will be beneficial to some and allergenic to others. It is best to pay attention to your body and watch for symptoms after eating dairy and eggs. The most highly allergenic foods are dairy, wheat, eggs, soy, citrus, peanuts and corn. That doesn't mean that you should avoid all of them, but these 7 foods are less digestible than others, so watch for feelings of fatigue or discomfort after eating them, even 12-24 hours later.

Snack on nuts and seeds. Walnuts, pecans, almonds, hazelnuts, cashews, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, as well as butters made from seeds and nuts are very highly nutritious and should be eaten frequently, unless one is allergic. Walnuts, high in omega-3 fatty acids, are a very important brain food for everyone, especially children. Other foods high in omega-3 fatty acids are flaxseed, grass-fed beef and salmon. Legumes are an important source of protein and other nutrients, especially when combined with rice or other whole grains.
Leave the refined carbs behind at the supermarket

Minimize, or better yet get rid of, refined grains and refined sugar of all kinds. These contribute nothing to your health, as all nutrition has been extracted from them. Worse, they actively deplete good health, because they cause excessive insulin release, which is the worst factor in arterial plaque, as well as countless other health problems. Try to eliminate as much as possible breads, cookies, bagels, pretzels, donuts, candy and sodas. But how do you do this when daily life is so full of these items? The battle over junk food is won or lost at the supermarket, not at home. In other words, if you come home with a box of cookies, you will probably eat them, because after all, being only human, it is nearly impossible to let them simply sit there in the cabinet a few feet away from you the same way the whole wheat pasta has been sitting there for six months. Rather, fighting the willpower battle at the supermarket is made much easier by simply walking on past the unhealthy food. Or better, not even walking down those aisles. In fact, some naturopaths advise to simply shop the periphery of the supermarket and nothing more. That way, you pick up the whole fruits and vegetables, meat and dairy, and come home with a much healthier, and less expensive, set of grocery items than if you had gone up and down the interior aisles where all the processed foods are.
The only kind of diet that will do you any good is one that you can be comfortable with long-term and features the above criteria.

Don't count calories. You could drive yourself up a wall trying to figure out how many calories you are eating or should eat. Counting calories is almost certain to end up making you feel deprived of food while wasting your time with meaningless numbers.

Above all, make a kind of peace with this way of eating. Find a quantity and variety of vegetables, fruits, meat, dairy and nuts and legumes that is so comfortable and so easy for you that you stay with these foods long term. The goal is to have such a well balanced and therefore satisfying diet, that there is nothing wanting and thus no need to cheat. You will find that some of these foods are so tasty that they become comfort foods for you. Rely on these when you feel the need for a comfort food. Give it at least sixteen weeks. If you are not feeling considerably better in that time and much thinner (if you are already overweight), then you need to modify this diet, so that it is something that you don't feel the need to cheat on. Cheating, as every dieter knows, costs so much that you may as well glue cookies on your thighs and tummy rather than eating them. Enrich your whole foods diet with so many different whole foods of your liking that you feel no need to cheat. Keep enough healthy convenience foods (i.e. fruits and nuts) on hand that you reach for those when you need to snack, because they are so visually appealing, fragrant, tasty, seasonally fresh and in great variety in your colorful and overflowing fruit bowl. If you feel you need something more filling with your fruit snack or fruit and nut snack, have some organic cheese with it. These items also pack and keep very nicely in a bag to take to work.
What do you do if eating whole foods seems to be too much of a change?

Start very slow and very easy. Dr. Steven Ehrlich of Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine is sensitive to people trying to change their diet, and the frustration that they may feel. Dr. Ehrlich instructs his students, "Have your patients add something rather than subtract from their diet To start, have them eat one apple a day." Here is an almost free change that one can make, a good tasting, easy to store, easy to carry, highly nutritious convenience food that is available year round. (Not to mention that it's probably the least messy thing you can eat on the go). Of course, after the patient masters this, Dr. Ehrlich gradually challenges his patients further with more and more good foods, but always gently, at the patient's own pace, considering individual appetites, and with great compassion. Surreptitiously (and insidiously!) the unhealthy items in the diet start falling away as patients fill up more and more on apples and later other whole fruits and vegetables. Let us all live up to such wonderful compassion as Dr Ehrlich teaches, as we ever so gently redirect others away from the plethora of processed foods that surround us in the supermarkets and the highway fast food outlets toward something more tasty, more nutritious, more aligned with our genetically acquired needs, and . . . more natural!