Death By Medicine:
Do We Have a Choice?
by Steve Bhaerman
It’s official. The leading cause of death in
America is not heart disease, not cancer --
but medicine itself!
A new book co-authored by nutritionist Gary
Null called -- appropriately enough -- Death
by Medicine claims that over 700,000
Americans die each year as a result of
medical treatment. A study by the Nutrition
Institute of America attributes over 783,000
deaths a year to “iatrogenic” causes --
induced inadvertently by medical treatment or
diagnostic procedures. In 2001, in
comparison, just under 700,000 Americans died
from heart disease and 550,000 died of cancer.
According to a Journal of the American
Medical Association (JAMA) article by Dr.
Barbara Starfield published in 2000, the
United States ranks 12th out of thirteen
industrialized countries when judged by
sixteen health status indicators. Japan,
Sweden and Canada (the country health
privateers attack as having “socialized
medicine”) rank one, two and three
respectively. In 1990, the United States
ranked 24th out of thirty-eight developed
countries in infant mortality, with a rate of
9.2 deaths per 1,000 live births.
Meanwhile, in 2004 the United States spent $
1.9 trillion on health care -- 16% of our
GDP. Maybe that old saying “you get what you
pay for” needs to be modified slightly to
“you get what you pay for, and sometimes a
whole lot less.”
But that isn’t even
the bad news, folks.
Many of you reading this already are wary of
“Newtonian medicine,” where every symptom
must be attacked with an equal and opposite
force-- so you avail yourselves of
alternatives. Chances are you’re among the
more than one third of American adults who
are using some form of Complementary or
Alternative Medicine (CAM). If certain
forces have their way, however, that won’t be
for long.
Let me say here that I just finished writing
the section of my Spontaneous Evolution book
with Bruce Lipton called “Institutionalized
Insanity,” which is about how false,
dysfunctional and obsolete beliefs express
themselves in society’s institutions. One of
the chapters in that section is called “The
Unhealthy Care System.” Even sprinkled with
a little humor, it’s not a cheerful read.
But as Swami has said, “The truth shall upset
you free.”
One of the few downsides in being among those
who value the Golden Rule over the rule of
gold is that we tend to “misunderestimate”
the dark powers. In our desire not to “go
there,” we may not notice it when “there”
comes “here.”
I am quoting
here from a communiqué by the Health
Solutions Network asking us to take
preemptive action in order to head off what
can essentially make practicing alternative
medicine illegal. Here is the note from Dr.
Rima Laibow:
The US FDA is at it again. They have been
notorious for decades for their biased
attacks and uneven handling of natural,
non-drug/surgery/radiation based health
options. This time, though, they are playing
for keeps.
The goal is simple: through a "Guidance"
about the regulation of "CAM" (which they
conveniently define as "Complementary and
Alternative MEDICINE" the FDA hopes to serve
the interests of Big Pharma by eliminating
all CAM practices and products. ALL of them.
Here's how this deadly game is played:
1. By using the term "Medicine" rather than
"Modality" for CAM practices, the FDA sets
the stage so that anyone who is not a
licensed physician is breaking the law by
using these modalities since they are
therefore 'practicing medicine without a
license'.
2. By using the term "treatment" rather than
"therapy", the FDA limits those who can
perform these practices to licensed
physicians and, again, anyone who is not a
licensed physician is breaking the law by
using these modalities since only licensed
practitioners can treat. So people using
these modalities are therefore 'practicing
medicine without a license'.
3. By using the terms "Medicine" and
"treatment" instead of "Modalities" and
"therapy", all substances, including
vitamins, minerals, herbs, co-factors, etc.,
automatically become untested drugs since
they are being used to prevent, treat,
mitigate or cure disease states. Such use can
only legally take place with FDA approved drugs.
Here's How We Protect CAM Practices,
Practitioners and Products
Numbers. Sheer volume of response. Nothing
more and nothing less. NOW is the time to
act. Our window of opportunity slams shut on
April 30, 2007.
http://tinyurl.com/2u7ghc
This
is the link which allows you to send a
comment directly to the FDA about their
deadly "Guidance.” Will it matter? Yes, if
millions of people respond. So I am asking
you to take this "viral".
Here is what you need to do NOW if you value
your freedom:
1. Click on the link
below and add your name to the letter. When
you click "Send" it will be electronically
delivered to the FDA docket site and
posted.
2. Write a brief note (or copy
the information in this email) including this
link , http://tinyurl.com/2u7ghc
, and mail it to every one you can. In your
email please:
- Include everyone you know and tell them
that their freedom to choose their own health
modalities and options is under serious
attack.
- Send the same email to the the companies
which make the vitamins, minerals and herbs
you use and ask them to send it out to their
entire mailing list.
- Impress upon the people you contact that
we are facing a virulent and highly organized
assault on ALL natural products and
procedures because they do not feed the
pharmaceutical coffers and that their help is
crucial.
- Include a link to the Natural Solutions
Foundation website (www.HealthFreedomUSA.org
). Ask them to become familiar with the site
in order to lend their support to the health
freedom battle which threatens their right to
make their own health choices.
If you have ever thought about taking action
to protect your health freedom, NOW is the
time to do it.
If you have never thought about taking
action, now is the time to think about it and
do it.
5,000,000
That's our goal. Two
weeks, five million comments to the FDA, all
asserting our fundamental right to control
our own health.
Can we do it? It's up to
you.
Here's the link:
http://tinyurl.com/2u7ghc
The future of natural health and health
freedom is literally in our hands!
ours
in health and freedom,
Rima E. Laibow,
MD
Medical Director
Natural Solutions
Foundation
http://www.healthfreedomusa.org
Apologies if the tone of that note was
“alarming,” but I guess the purpose of an
alarm to wake people up. So ... don’t hit
“snooze” ... do something.
As you contemplate taking action and what
action to take, I offer two stories. The
first story you may be familiar with. It is
the story of Kitty Genovese, the Queens woman
who was murdered some forty years ago while
38 neighbors watched from their apartment
windows. While this story has been used to
illustrate the careless uncaringness of
modern society, there’s a little more to the
story than we think. According to Malcolm
Gladwell’s account in The Tipping Point, the
real reason why no one took action was
precisely because so many people were
watching. Each expected that someone else
would report the crime.
Let’s not make that mistake. Let’s make sure
everyone -- all fifty or sixty million of us
who avail ourselves of alternative medicine
-- report the crime before it happens.
The second story is about a picnic I attended
about twenty years ago. A group of us were
trying to play volleyball, but a rambunctious
and persistent little Shelty dog kept
“herding” children onto the volleyball court.
What was “cute” the first two times, became
increasingly “uncute” the fifth, sixth and
seventh time. Finally I had an idea. I
instructed everyone that the next time the
dog herded the kids on to the field, we --
all twelve or so of us trying to play
volleyball -- would turn as one and chase the
dog. Sure enough, next time we did just
that, and you’ve never seen a more confused
herding dog. He kept looking back as we
chased him, and I’m sure the thought going
through his little doggie head was, “No! No!
No! They can’t be herding me, I have to be
herding them!”
This turning of the tables worked, and that
was the last time the dog disrupted our game.
So now it is our turn to turn the tables.
We have to gather all our numbers and all our
momentum to chase this “bad dog” of an idea
so far off the field that it forgets where
the field is.
Please take
the time to go here and educate yourself.
The life you save may be your own.
Book by this author:
Swami for Precedent
by Swami Beyondananda (aka Steve Bhaerman).
Info/Order this book
 About the Author
Steve Bhaerman is an internationally known author, humorist, and workshop leader.
For the past 18 years, he has written and performed as Swami
Beyondananda, the “Cosmic Comic.” Swami’s comedy has been called
“irreverently uplifting” and has been described both as “comedy
disguised as wisdom” and “wisdom disguised as comedy.” This article was first published in Steve’s spiritual /
political “uncommontary,” sent to subscribers of Notes From
the Trail (subscribe on his website). Visit his website at www.wakeuplaughing.com
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