collectiveevolution--2019-03-27--CDCs Infant Hep B Vaccine Recommendations No Proof of Safety

CDC’s Infant Hep B Vaccine Recommendations – No Proof of Safety?

The CDC’s recommendation for universal hepatitis B vaccination of infants puts most children at unnecessary risk of harm from the vaccine.  [Note: This is the second installment of a three-part Hep B series examining the CDC’s rationale for its universal infant hepatitis B vaccination recommendation. Part 1 explores the risk to infants of a Hepatitis B infection. (The vast majority of children in the US today are not at significant risk of hepatitis B infection.) Part 2 reveals how the agency began recommending vaccination for pregnant women and infants despite a complete lack of randomized, placebo-controlled trials demonstrating that these practices are safe. Part 3 examines the CDC’s 1991 policy shift to recommending that infants be ‘universally’ vaccinated, typically on the first day of their lives, thus placing millions of children at unnecessary risk of neurodevelopmental harm from the vaccine.]  Before the introduction of the vaccine, numerous effective prevention measures had already been implemented to some degree in the US, including blood screening and administration of hepatitis B immune globulin (HBIG) to infants born to HBsAg-positive women. HBIG containsprotective antibodies obtained from the blood plasma of selected donors, conferring passive immunity to the infant. It’s estimated to be about 75 percent effective in preventing chronic infection when given soon after exposure. Additionally, newborn infants may have maternal antibodies passively acquired through the placenta.  Nevertheless, the number of cases occurring in the US annually continued to increase until it peaked in 1985 at about 26,000 reported cases. The increase in prevalence was occurringparticularly among young adults. The decline seen during the second half of the 1980s through the early 1990s is attributed to a reduction in transmission among gay men and drug users as a result of efforts to prevent transmission of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). From 1990 to 2004, incidence of acute hepatitis B infection declined by 75 percent, with most of the decline occurring among children and adolescents, coinciding with greater vaccination coverage.  The hepatitis B vaccine was first licensed for use in the United States in 1981. The following year, the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) issued a recommendation for vaccination of high-risk individuals. The estimated lifetime risk of HBV infection at the time was approximately 5 percent for the US population as a whole, but rose to almost 100 percent for the highest-risk groups. Persons considered at “substantial risk” included various categories of health care workers, gay men, illicit injectable drug users, recipients of certain blood products, household and sexual contacts of HBV carriers, Alaskan Eskimos, immigrants or refugees from countries where HBV is highly endemic, and prison inmates.  For infants born to HBsAg-positive mothers, the CDC recommended administration of HBIG. For infants whose mothers were chronic carriers (positive HBsAg but negative IgM-anti-HBc), the CDC additionally recommended a 3-dose vaccination regimen starting no sooner than 3 months of age. The CDC added that “Studies to determine the immunogenicity and efficacy of vaccine at birth, with or without HBIG, are currently under way.” (Emphasis added.)  The CDC did not say whether studies were being done to determine the safety of vaccinating infants at birth. This curious oversight was made despite the CDC’s acknowledgment that the vaccine included aluminum—a known neurotoxin—as an “adjuvant”. An adjuvant, as defined by the CDC, is “an ingredient used in some vaccines that helps create a stronger immune response in people receiving the vaccine.” Inasmuch as aluminum is a foreign substance in the body capable of causing disease and which triggers an immune response, aluminum also meets the CDC’s definition of an “antigen”.  Additionally, the hepatitis B vaccine being used at the time included another known neurotoxin: mercury.  Furthermore, the CDC included high-risk pregnant women within the scope of its recommendation by stating that pregnancy “should not be considered a contraindication to the use of this vaccine”.  The CDC admitted that, with respect to the developing fetus, safety data were “not available”, but assumed that the risk “should be negligible” on the grounds that the viral antigen contained in the vaccine was non-infectious. However, since the viral antigen was not the only component of the vaccine, the CDC’s conclusion did not logically follow.  This glaring non sequitur fallacy by the CDC is illustrative of a complete lack of concern among public health officials about the neurotoxicity of mercury and aluminum, both of which are known to pass through both the placental and blood-brain barriers.  In fact, the CDC issued its recommendations that high-risk pregnant women and infants of carrier mothers be vaccinated despite a complete absence of studies demonstrating that either practice was safe. The clinical trials used to obtain licensure for the vaccine had included only gay men.  Additionally, the CDC acknowledged that the duration of protection conferred by the vaccine had “not yet been determined.”  In 1984, the CDC revised its recommendation to include vaccination of infants at birth. Under the new policy, women belonging to high risk groups were to be tested routinely during prenatal visits, and if positive for HBsAg, HBIG was to be administered to the infant as soon as possible after delivery and preferably within twelve hours of birth. Now, instead of waiting until at least a week to initiate the vaccine regimen, the CDC advised giving the first dose within seven days of birth, further implying that this should preferably be done on the very first day of life by stating that the effectiveness of HBIG administered concurrently with vaccination increased the effectiveness of preventing chronic infection from 75 percent up to 90 percent. (According to the Pink Book, vaccination alone is 70 percent to 95 percent effective, while vaccination concurrent with HBIG within twenty-four hours of birth is 85 to 95 percent effective.)  While emphasizing that studies had shown vaccination to be effective, the CDC mentioned no studies demonstrating that it was safe to vaccinate newborn babies or to expose developing fetuses to mercury and aluminum by vaccinating pregnant women.  In an updated recommendation the following year, the CDC explicitly recommended vaccinating infants born to infected mothers concurrently with HBIG within twelve hours of birth. Once again, safety studies were not forthcoming.  In 1986, a new version of the hepatitis B vaccine was licensed for use in all ages. The older version was manufactured by isolating and purifying HBsAg from the blood plasma of infected individuals. The new vaccine, Merck’s Recombivax HB, instead contained viral proteins that were genetically engineered, manufactured by cloning the virus’s genetic coding for HBsAg into “recombinant” yeast.  Under federal law, vaccine manufacturers are required to include package inserts with their products providing adequate warnings about the risks of using them. These are publicly available on the FDA’s website. The current package insert for Recombivax HB, with respect to its effectiveness, states that “The duration of the protective effect of RECOMBIVAX HB in healthy vaccines is unknown at present and the need for booster doses is not yet defined.” The vaccine may also be ineffective if administered to an individual who is already infected.  With respect to its safety, Merck states that “There are no adequate and well-controlled studies designed to evaluate RECOMBIVAX HB in pregnant women.” Additionally, “Developmental toxicity studies have not been conducted with the vaccine in animals.” It’s not known whether the vaccine’s contents are excreted in human milk, and there are no studies of the effects on breastfed infants or milk production. There are no studies to determine whether the vaccine can cause genetic mutations or cancer, or whether it can impair fertility.  Merck does refer to post-licensure clinical studies relevant to pregnant women, but these were not actually designed to test the safety of the vaccine for this group. Instead, twenty-three pregnant women were vaccinated “inadvertently” early in their first trimester, four of whom ended up having a miscarriage. Merck states that this 17 percent miscarriage rate is “consistent with estimated background rates”, but given the fact these studies weren’t designed to determine whether fetal harm might occur, included a very small number of pregnant women, and didn’t include a placebo control group, this information is totally worthless in terms of risk assessment.  The only information about safety with respect to vaccinating infants refers to three clinical trials including a total of only “147 healthy infants and children (up to 10 years of age)”. Since the infants were grouped with older children and their number unspecified, this information is uninterpretable with respect to the safety of vaccinating infants still in the earliest stages of childhood development. The number of children included was also too low for these studies to have the statistical power necessary to detect any harms apart from those that occur very frequently. There was no placebo control group even to determine the statistical significance of reported adverse events, such as fever or rhinitis. Furthermore, these children were monitored for adverse events for only five days, so any adverse events occurring after that period of time were entirely missed.  This is particularly concerning given that symptoms of neurological damage from toxins like mercury and aluminum might not be noticeable for many weeks, months, or even years following exposure—not to mention the fact that it is not only single exposures that need to be taken into consideration, but the cumulative impact of all environmental toxic exposures.  Despite the total inadequacy of the clinical trials for determining the safety of vaccinating pregnant women and infants, a microbiologist from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Richard Daemer, assured the public of the new vaccine’s safety by stating that it “just can’t do any damage, period”.  The sole premise upon which that fallacious conclusion was based was, once again, that the vaccine did not contain a live virus capable of infection. It was a statement that once again demonstrated the complete lack of consideration among public health officials that mercury and aluminum, both of which were also included in Recombivax HB, could potentially cause neurodevelopmental harm to vulnerable fetuses and young infants.  That same year, the US Congress passed the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act, which granted broad legal immunity against vaccine injury lawsuits to the pharmaceutical industry and established the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, funded by an excise tax on each vaccine dose, to effectively shift the financial burden for vaccine injuries away from the manufacturers and onto the taxpaying consumers. The Supreme Court in 2011 upheld legal immunity for vaccine manufacturers on the grounds that adverse reactions are “unavoidable” and design defects are “not a basis for liability”.  In 1988, the CDC once again revised its policy by recommending screening for all pregnant women, not just those in high risk groups, in an effort to reduce the number of perinatally infected infants who become chronic carriers. The number of such infants born each year was estimated to be about 3,500, which represented about one-fifth of the estimated number of births to HBsAg-positive women annually (16,500). A study done ten years later estimated that 97 percent of pregnant women in the US receive prenatal screening.  In 1989, a second recombinant HepB vaccine was licensed for use in all ages: GlaxoSmithKline’s Engerix‑B. Its package insert includes similar warnings as are included with Merck’s product. In thirty-six clinical trials, Engerix‑B was administered to 5,071 healthy adults, children, and newborn infants. Once again, including the unspecified number of infants with older children and adults renders this information uninterpretable with respect to the risks of vaccinating infants. Once again, there was no placebo control group, and the researchers solicited only certain pre-selected adverse events by providing a symptom checklist. Once again, subjects were monitored for a very short term, which was only four days.  [Part 3 examines the CDC’s 1991 policy shift to recommending that infants be ‘universally’ vaccinated, typically on the first day of their lives, thus placing millions of children at unnecessary risk of neurodevelopmental harm from the vaccine.]


drudgereport--2019-01-08--Science races against tick-borne virus

Science races against tick-borne virus...

In the Jan. 7 Nature Microbiology, researchers describe the molecular mechanisms used by the virus to infect and sicken humans, a puzzle that has stumped scientists since the disease emerged in rural China in 2009.  In a related discovery published in Nature Microbiology last month, researchers at USC and in Korea found that aged ferrets with the virus exhibit symptoms similar to those seen in older humans, while young ferrets show no clinical symptoms. An animal model in which to study the virus, a crucial tool in vaccine or drug discovery, has been elusive, until now.  "The ticks are already in the United States. If they start spreading the virus, it will be a major problem," said Jae Jung, the study's senior author and chair of the Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology at the Keck School of Medicine of USC. "I started studying this virus five years ago because once it appeared in China, I knew it would eventually appear in the United States."  The findings come at a time when health officials are increasingly concerned about the growing danger of tick-borne illnesses. In the United States, Lyme disease accounts for most cases, but other illnesses are on the rise. The total number of reported cases has more than doubled in the past 13 years, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  The new threat comes in the form of a bug new to North America—the Asian longhorned tick, Haemaphysalis longicornis. It's a tiny, parasitic arachnid that's a major livestock pest in East and Central Asia, where it thrives under temperate conditions. After a blood meal, females drop off their host to produce 2,000 eggs at a time, with or without the help of a male.  It can transmit severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS), an illness that causes nausea, diarrhea and muscle pain. The illness is often lethal, killing up to 30 percent of hospitalized patients. The virus depletes blood platelets as it replicates, which prevents clotting and leads to hemorrhage similar to Ebola virus infection.  The disease has spread to Japan and Korea since it appeared in China. The SFTS virus has not been detected in the United States yet, but the Asian longhorned tick was found in nine states during the past two years, including Arkansas, Connecticut, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia.  The CDC considers the presence of the Asian longhorned tick in the United States an "emerging disease threat" and is recommending ongoing surveillance efforts and testing for pathogens. A virus genetically similar to SFTS virus, Heartland virus, and causing similar human illness was also recently discovered in the United States. Globally, the SFTS disease has caused infection of thousands of people a year in China.  Jung and his colleagues found that the virus targets a gene called TPL2, which is involved in the body's inflammatory response. In a healthy person, the body's natural inflammatory response helps fight off an infection. With SFTS infection, the virus directs the TPL2 gene to switch off that protective inflammatory response at the site of the tick bite—creating a protected spot in which the virus can amass copies of itself and spread throughout the body.  In animals, the researchers disabled TPL2 with an inhibitor; as a result, the body's healthy immune function kept viral replication in check, resulting in a milder infection—and suggesting that the TPL2 gene's signaling pathway presents a potential target for a therapy.  "We're very optimistic that these findings will help us get a vaccine up and running within several years," said Younho Choi, a post-doctoral researcher in the Jung lab and the study's first author. "We're already developing various vaccine candidates in mouse and ferret animal models. The idea behind the vaccine is to outsmart the virus by putting a roadblock, allowing the body's immune system to keep doing its job."  Explore further: New tick species spreading in the US  More information: Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome phlebovirus non-structural protein activates TPL2 signalling pathway for viral immunopathogenesis, Nature Microbiology (2019). DOI: 10.1038/s41564-018-0329-x , https://www.nature.com/articles/s41564-018-0329-x


eveningstandard--2019-04-30--Viruses that kill bacteria could tackle aposincurableapos brain cancers

Viruses that kill bacteria could tackle 'incurable' brain cancers, according to early-stage research. The first trials could begin within the next three to five years in the US or UK.  Scientists are looking to treat an aggressive, incurable form of brain cancer called glioblastoma, which kills many patients within the first year following diagnosis.  “Glioblastoma is a devastating form of cancer” said lead researcher Dr Amin Hajitou, from the Division of Brain Sciences at Imperial College London.  “These tumours can grow very fast and can be resistant to the existing treatments we have, so there’s a real need to develop new, effective therapies for patients.”  Researchers – who carried out their study on mice – used specialised viruses called bateriophages or 'phages' to target cancer cells.  The bacteriophages work by latching on to the surface of the bacteria. They insert their genetic material into the cell and ultimately destroy the bacteria. Researchers looked at how these tiny bacteria-killers could be modified to fight cancer cells instead.  They were able to deliver targeted therapy and improve the effect of a drug called temozolomid (TMZ) which is the only form of chemotherapy that partially works on the cancer. Scientists could shrink the tumour and create healthy tissue in its place, according to the paper published in journal EMBO Molecular Medicine.  Dr Hajitou said: “Our latest work shows that in mice with glioblastoma, combining this viral therapy with low dose temozolomide leads to regression of tumours and the best survival benefit. We have generated cancer-targeting viruses that do not enter healthy cells and are therefore safe for use in human tissues.”  Less than one month after treatment, mice receiving the phage-targeted therapy plus TMZ showed not just a lack of tumour growth but a large reduction in the size of the tumour. Some mice survived more than 84 days after the tumour was implanted.  “We have already performed safety studies of the virus in larger animals, in pet dogs with natural tumours and which would have otherwise died from their cancers without treatment,” said Dr Hajitou.  “In these studies we observed huge improvements and, in some cases, full regression of tumours and complete response to treatment. Taken together, we are confident these studies prove that our virus is safe."  A US company is now developing a form of the virus to take forward to clinical trials.


freedombunker--2019-12-06--Chinese Researchers Are Trying To Edit Pigs’ Genes To Resist Disease

An African swine fever (ASF) outbreak has reportedly killed 100 million pigs in China in the past year. The U.S. has fortunately never had a case of this devastating disease, which basically kills 100 percent of infected hogs. The Chinese outbreak is a huge problem since that country's farmers raise half of the world's 800 million pigs and Chinese consumers eat two-thirds of the world's pork. Thanks to the epidemic, pork prices have doubled in China.  Back in 2015, researchers in Britain modified domestic pig genomes to express a version of gene that enables warthogs to resist ASF. Those researchers hoped that their disease-resistant pigs would get through all the regulatory hurdles and be commercially available in five years or so.  So far, the commercial introduction of crops and livestock improved by precise gene-editing has been stymied by overregulation in both the United States and Europe. For example, it took 24 years to get Food and Drug Administration approval for the only biotech-enhanced food animal, the AquAdvantage salmon, now on the market in Canada.  Spurred by the ASF epidemic, Chinese researchers are now using CRISPR genome editing to try to create pigs resistant to the deadly virus. In fact, China now leads the world in agricultural genome-editing research. Researchers in that country have used gene editing to create more muscular beagles, cashmere goats with finer wool, and hogs with leaner meat. For the sake of healthier livestock and more productive crops, let's hope that Chinese regulators will be guided by science rather than succumb to the excessive caution hobbling their American and European peers.


hitandrun--2019-12-06--Chinese Researchers Are Trying To Edit Pigs' Genes To Resist Disease


lewrockwell--2019-10-10--Multiple Studies Show MMR & Pertussis Vaccine Failure

We are living in a day and age where there is a tremendous divide occurring among the populace on multiple subjects, one of them being vaccination. We are heavily marketed with the idea that vaccines are completely safe for everybody, that they save lives, and that the science is settled. This type of narrative comes straight from pharmaceutical companies and federal health regulatory agencies like the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).  However, there is a lot of science that continues to emerge which summarily discount the claims being made by pharmaceutical companies and federal health regulatory agencies. Not only are there contradictions in their science, but also extreme corruption within these companies and agencies has been exposed on multiple occasions. One great example would be senior CDC scientist Dr. William Thompson, who blew the whistle in 2014 on data corruption by executives within the CDC with regards to falsified data pertaining to the MMR vaccine. One study which purports to show no link between the vaccine and autism had some of its data sets removed, which otherwise showed a strong correlation between the vaccine to autism.  Two years after that more than a dozen senior CDC scientists anononymously put out a paper (the SPIDER papers) in which they expressed their concerns about the corruption within the agency, its complacency, and undue corporate influence on the published science. The revolving door that exists between these agencies contributes to the continued corruption. As an example, CDC Director from 2002-2009 Julie Gerberding became the head Merck’s vaccines division, which came with a $2.5 million annual salary and $5 million in stock options. Dissolving Illusions: ... Suzanne Humphries MD, ... Best Price: $26.83 Buy New $21.60  A study published as far back as 1994 in the JAMA Internal Medicine details quite clearly that the Measles vaccine does not and has not worked:  We found 18 reports of measles outbreaks in very highly immunized school populations where 71% to 99.8% of students were immunized against measles. Despite these high rates of immunization, 30% to 100% of all measles cases in these outbreaks occurred in previously immunized students. In our hypothetical school model, after more than 95% of schoolchildren are immunized against measles, the majority of measles cases occur in appropriately immunized children. The apparent paradox is that as measles immunization rates rise to high levels in a population, measles becomes a disease of immunized persons. Because of the failure rate of the vaccine and the unique transmissibility of the measles virus, the currently available measles vaccine, used in a single-dose strategy, is unlikely to completely eliminate measles. The long term success of a two-dose strategy to eliminate measles remains to be determined. (source)  There are many examples up to the present day that clearly indicate the failure of the vaccine. For example, A study published in the highly authoritative Bulletin of the World Health Organization looked at recent measles occurrences throughout China and found that there were 707 measles outbreaks in the country recorded between 2009 and 2012, with a steep upward trend in 2013. “The number of measles cases reported in the first 10 months of 2013 – 26,443 – was three times the number reported in the whole of 2012.” This is odd considering that since 2009 “…the first dose of measles-virus-containing vaccine has reached more than 90% of the target population.” (source)  A study published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases – whose authorship includes scientists working for the Bureau of Immunization, New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Atlanta, GA – looked at evidence from the 2011 New York measles outbreak, which showed that individuals with prior evidence of measles vaccination and vaccine immunity were both capable of being infected with measles and infecting others with it (secondary transmission). (source)  During the measles outbreak in California in 2015, a large number of suspected cases occurred in recent vaccines. Of the 194 measles virus sequences obtained in the United States in 2015, 73 were identified as vaccine sequences. The Pharma-owned media generated high public anxiety, a form of fear mongering that led the public to demonize unvaccinated children, who were falsely perceived as the spreaders of this disease. Rebecca J. McNall, a co-author of the published report, is a CDC official in the Division of Viral Diseases who had the data proving that the measles outbreak was in part caused by the vaccine. It is evidence of the vaccine’s failure to provide immunity. (source)  How Many People Is The Measles Vaccine Injuring?  According to a MedAlerts search of the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) database, which is the subject of the pilot study mentioned above, as of 2/5/19, the cumulative raw count from measles, mumps, and rubella vaccines alone was: 93,929 adverse events, 1,810 disabilities, 6,902 hospitalizations, and 463 deaths.  The National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act has paid out approximately $4 billion to compensate families of vaccine-injured children. As astronomical as the monetary awards are, they’re even more alarming considering HHS claims that only an estimated 1% of vaccine injuries are even reported to the VAERS. Again, these facts are also illustrated by the study that’s the main focus of this article. If the numbers from VAERS and HHS are correct, only 1/3 of the petitions are compensated – then the compensation could be up to 300 times greater, if all vaccine injuries were actually compensated for.  I came across an interesting Instagram post by Robert F. Kennedy Jr recently: Jabbed: How the Vaccin... Brett Wilcox Best Price: $23.85 Buy New $23.86  In our September 18 debate, Dr. Robert Reichert, parroting Pharma, faults “anti-vaxxers” for causing the pertussis (whooping cough) resurgence. But science blames the pertussis rebound on a faulty vaccine that actually spreads the contagion. Even Dr. Stanley Plotkin, one of the “fathers” of modern vaccinology concedes “the increase in pertussis appears to be the result of waning (vaccine) immunity”. (Burdin et al. 2017). Multiple vaccines boosters given to infants and children enrich Pharma but are ineffective against waning immunity. In fact, a 2016 study by Schwartz et al. shows that “boosting” with the current vaccine actually INCREASES the risk of contracting whooping cough. Moreover, Lavine et al. (2010) found that while the vaccine provides some protection from pertussis, it causes a rise in overall whooping cough infection by enhancing the growth of parapertussis—a closely related bacteria. That’s why whooping cough outbreaks are attacking fully vaccinated populations. A 2019 outbreak in a Los Angeles schools sickened 90 vaccinated children and none of the unvaccinated children. (Latimes.com, 2019). An animal study by Long et al confirmed that the vaccine actually weakens resistance to parapertussis and enhances the spread of the disease. The authors state, “Our data raise the possibility that widespread acellular pertussis vaccination can create hosts (i.e., people) more susceptible to B.parapertussis.” Worse, the pertussis vaccine does not actually prevent colonization of the pathogen but instead blocks symptoms masking the infection. Vaccinated people can therefore become asymptomatic carriers of pertussis and transmit whooping cough to others without knowing it (Gill et al. 2017). Thus, the vaccine is useless in preventing pertussis and increases the risk of spreading it. Furthermore,since 1992, doctors have reported 89,550 injuries and 1,529 deaths from the current vaccine. Since DTaP creates “herd susceptibility” instead of “herd immunity”, school mandates are not just cruel—they are criminal.  In his post he uses multiple screen shots to make his point, you can find them below with links to the actual study above the screen shots.  The tactic of Pharma-owned mainstream media is to use fear, ridicule and terms like “Anti-Vaxxers” to marginalize anyone who doesn’t believe the entire planet should be vaccinated. Vaccine advocates and mainstream media never really seem to address the points made, like the ones above, or the science provided by vaccine safety advocates. This alone should tell us something about the safety of vaccines, and why the push for mandatory vaccination is highly objectionable.  Because mainstream media, mainstream education, and our pharma-driven health care system have a stranglehold on the proliferation of information, not many people are aware of the information that’s presented in this article. If we continue to give our brains away to these authority figures, we continue to be impacted by extreme amounts of propaganda. However, as we start thinking for ourselves and realize that there is a lot of information out there that is being kept from us, the picture becomes a little more clear.


lewrockwell--2019-10-10--‘DNA-Based’ Vaccines Are In Our Future: They Will Literally Change Your DNA

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) has launched efforts to create a vaccine that would protect people from most flu strains, all at once, with a single shot. This shot would be a DNA-based vaccine that will literally change your body’s DNA.  With mandatory vaccinations increasingly being legislated, this bodes a very dangerous health future. Politicians and Big Pharma are pouring a lot of money into this and at first glance, it may appear that your health and well-being are their concern. That could not be further from the truth.  Massachusetts Senator and big spender, Ed Markey, has introduced a bill that would shovel no less than a billion dollars toward the universal flu-vaccine project. Here is a sentence from an NIAID press release that mentions one of several research approaches:  Vaccine Epidemic: How ... Best Price: $10.05 Buy New $13.95 This is horrifying if you know what the phrase “DNA vaccine” means. It refers to what the experts are touting as the next generation of immunizations. Instead of injecting a piece of a virus into a person, in order to stimulate the immune system, synthesized genes would be shot into the body. This isn’t traditional vaccination anymore. It’s gene therapy.  In any such method, where genes are edited, deleted, or added to living organisms, there are always “unintended consequences.” These vaccines will permanently alter your DNA. Once injected, there’s no going back either.  The reference is the New York Times, 3/15/15, “Protection Without a Vaccine.” It describes the frontier of research—the use of synthetic genes to “protect against disease,” while changing the genetic makeup of humans. This is no longer science fiction:  By delivering synthetic genes into the muscles of the [experimental] monkeys, the scientists are essentially re-engineering the animals to resist disease. “The sky’s the limit,” said Michael Farzan, an immunologist at Scripps and lead author of the new study. The first human trial based on this strategy — called immunoprophylaxis by gene transfer, or I.G.T. — is underway, and several new ones are planned. [That was three years ago.] I.G.T. is altogether different from traditional vaccination. It is instead a form of gene therapy. Scientists isolate the genes that produce powerful antibodies against certain diseases and then synthesize artificial versions. The genes are placed into viruses and injected into human tissue, usually muscle. –The New York Times  With mandatory vaccine laws being written, it is foreseeable that these vaccines will be forced on people at gunpoint. You will have to alter your own DNA without your consent.  Public health officials state that vaccines for children and adults are safe and effective, but the truth is far more complicated.  Vaccination is a serious medical intervention that always carries the potential to injure and cause death as well as to prevent disease. Coercive vaccination policies deprive people of free and informed consent—the hallmark of ethical medicine. Americans are increasingly concerned about vaccine safety and the right to make individual, informed choices together with their healthcare practitioners.  Vaccine Epidemic: How Corporate Greed, Biased Science, and Coercive Government Threaten Our Human Rights, Our Health, and Our Children focuses on the searing debate surrounding individual and parental vaccination choice in the United States.


lewrockwell--2019-11-30--Rise of the Superbugs: Bacteria Are Outsmarting Humans. Will They Eventually Kill Us All?

It is getting hard to keep track of all the recalls and outbreaks associated with foodborne illness lately. In the last month, apples, vegetable products, meat, and fish have all been recalled for possible Listeria contamination. In the same time frame, a Salmonella outbreak that has been linked to ground beef has been making the rounds, and an E. coli outbreak has been linked with packaged salad products (romaine lettuce is once again the suspect).  What is the reason for all of these recalls and outbreaks? Cat Ellis summed it up in the article Here’s Why There Are SO MANY Food Recalls Lately:  To make matters worse, superbugs are rapidly becoming a serious threat, and we are running out of ways to kill them. Several new studies and reports shed light on just how dire the situation is.  In the future, superbugs will kill millions every year.  Earlier this year, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned that by the year 2050, 10 million people worldwide could die each year from antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Currently, the WHO estimates that 700,000 people globally die from infection with drug-resistant microbes every year. At that point, these “superbugs” will have surpassed cancer, heart disease, and diabetes to become the main cause of death in the human race. Be Ready for Anything:... Daisy Luther Best Price: $9.77 Buy New $9.69  Superbugs are bacteria that have developed resistance to one or more classes of antibiotics, rendering those antibiotics less effective in treating infections. They are also known as antimicrobial-resistant bacteria (ARB).  One of the reasons antibiotic resistance is a growing problem is their widespread use in animals raised for food.  According to a recent study published in the journal Science,  The CDC recently published a report on Antibiotic/Antimicrobial Resistance, which revealed that more than 2.8 million antibiotic-resistant infections occur in the U.S. each year, and more than 35,000 people die as a result. In addition, 223,900 cases of Clostridioides difficile occurred in 2017 and at least 12,800 people died.  Clostridioides difficile (C.diff) is of special concern because it causes a dangerous infection that is linked to antibiotic use. It can cause deadly diarrhea when antibiotics kill beneficial bacteria in the digestive system that normally keep it under control. When the C. diff. illnesses and deaths are added, the annual U.S. toll of all these pathogens is more than 3 million infections and 48,000 deaths.  C. diff., drug-resistant gonorrhea, and carbapenem-resistant enterobacteriaceae (CRE) are known as “nightmare bacteria” because they pose a triple threat. They are resistant to all or nearly all antibiotics, they kill up to half of patients who get bloodstream infections from them, and the bacteria can transfer their antibiotic resistance to other related bacteria, potentially making the other bacteria untreatable.  Candida auris, a dangerous fungal infection that preys on people with weakened immune systems, is quietly spreading across the globe, as we reported earlier this year:  The CDC is concerned about C. aruis for three main reasons, according to the agency’s website. It is often multidrug-resistant, meaning that it is resistant to multiple antifungal drugs commonly used to treat Candida infections. It is difficult to identify with standard laboratory methods, and it can be misidentified in labs without specific technology. Misidentification may lead to inappropriate management. It has caused outbreaks in healthcare settings. For this reason, it is important to quickly identify C. auris in a hospitalized patient so that healthcare facilities can take special precautions to stop its spread. As of August 31, 2019, 806 confirmed cases of C. auris have been reported in the US. Beyond the reported clinical case counts, an additional 1642 patients have been found to be colonized with C. auris. While exact figures are not available (many infected people had other serious health issues that contributed to their deaths), an estimated 30-60% of those infected with C. auris die. (source)  One form of Acinetobacter, a group of bacteria commonly found in the environment (like in soil and water) has developed resistance to nearly all antibiotics:  Pigs are one of the most intensively farmed animals in the world, according to a new report from nonprofit World Animal Protection. The organization tested pork products sold in two well-known national retail chains in the US, including Walmart.  Here is an excerpt from the report’s summary:  A total of 160 samples of pork were purchased from several stores of Walmart and a competing national retailer over a period of several days in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States. The samples, 80 from each retailer, were tested by a laboratory at Texas Tech University (TTU) in 32 batches of five samples each for the presence of bacteria commonly found in pigs and pork in the U.S.: E. coli, Salmonella, Enterococcus, and Listeria. Bacteria isolated from the batches were then tested for susceptibility to antibiotics. According to the data provided to World Animal Protection by the laboratory, a total of 51 bacteria were isolated from 30 batches including: Batches of samples from Walmart were far more likely to contain a detectable presence of two or more of the bacteria in a single batch than the other chain, and all batches that tested positive for three or more bacteria were obtained at Walmart. Antibiotic susceptibility testing conducted by the laboratory revealed that 41of the 51 bacteria isolated from the pork samples were resistant to at least one class of medically important antibiotic. Twenty-one of the bacteria were multi-drug-resistant, meaning they were resistant to three or more classes, with three being resistant to six classes of medically important antibiotics. The majority of multi-drug-resistant strains were isolated from Walmart sample batches, including all strains resistant to four or more drug classes. All seven strains resistant to Highest Priority Critically Important Antimicrobials (HPCIA) were in Walmart samples. (source)  Several new studies show just how serious the situation is.  A study published in September 2019 found that bacteria can change shape inside our bodies to avoid antibiotics. Here’s an excerpt from an article Katarzyna Mickiewicz, the lead study author, wrote:  Researchers have found a new survival mechanism for a commonly known type of bacteria. It can send out warning signals and thus make sure that other bacteria escape ‘dangers’ such as antibiotics, according to another new study:  Some bacteria develop resistance to otherwise effective treatment with antibiotics. Therefore, researchers are trying to develop new types of antibiotics that can fight the bacteria, and at the same time trying to make the current treatment with antibiotics more effective. Researchers are now getting closer to this goal with a type of bacteria called Pseudomonas aeruginosa, which is notorious for infecting patients with the lung disease cystic fibrosis. In a new study, researchers found that the bacteria send out warning signals to their conspecifics when attacked by antibiotics or the viruses called bacteriophages which kill bacteria. ‘We can see in the laboratory that the bacteria simply swim around the ‘dangerous area’ with antibiotics or bacteriophages. When they receive the warning signal from their conspecifics, you can see in the microscope that they are moving in a neat circle around. It is a smart survival mechanism for the bacteria. If it turns out that the bacteria use the same evasive manoeuvre when infecting humans, it may help explain why some bacterial infections cannot be effectively treated with antibiotics’, says researcher Nina Molin Høyland-Kroghsbo, Assistant Professor at the Department of Veterinary and Animal Sciences and part of the research talent programme UCPH-Forward. (source)  Antibiotic-resistant strains of Salmonella are on the uptick, according to a study published a few days ago. Here’s an explanation from a press release titled The Nature of Salmonella is Changing – and It’s Meaner:  In response to the growing number of bugs that are drug-resistant, scientists are learning to identify and isolate them in hopes of preventing large outbreaks. They are also making efforts to tighten up the use of antibiotics in an effort to slow the development of resistant strains, but many experts say it is too late, and that these actions will only buy us a little time.  There isn’t much incentive to develop new antibiotics, mainly because the development of one new antibiotic costs about $2 billion and takes about 10 years, and the likelihood of drug companies making a profit on such drugs is low.  An international team of researchers recently announced, however, that they have discovered a “novel peptide” they call Darobactin that attacks gram-negative bacteria:  Another new study found that copper hospital beds in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) harbored an average of 95% fewer bacteria than conventional hospital beds, and maintained these low-risk levels throughout patients’ stay in hospital:  Earlier this year, a study found that cannabidiol (commonly known as CBD) is remarkably effective at killing a wide range of Gram-positive bacteria, including types of staph and strep bacteria, as well as strains that had become resistant to other antibiotic drugs.  In a press release, study lead author Dr. Mark Blaskovich, of The University of Queensland’s Institute for Molecular Bioscience’s Centre for Superbug Solutions in Brisbane, Australia, said of the findings: Prepping for a Pandemi... Cat Ellis Best Price: $25.58 Buy New $16.95  This research was not the first to demonstrate CBD’s bacteria-fighting properties. Two previous studies showed that CBD may be effective against a killer infection: Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus Aureus, or MRSA. While research on CBD as a treatment for serious infections is in the early stages, the mounting scientific evidence showing the compound’s powerful antifungal, antiviral, and antibacterial properties is promising.  This might be a good time to grab a copy of Prepping for a Pandemic: Life-Saving Supplies, Skills and Plans for Surviving an Outbreak by Cat Ellis – it can help you prepare for the impending bacterial apocalypse.  Reprinted with permission from The Organic Prepper.


naturalnews--2019-01-14--The CURE for Alzheimers Disease can be found in our synapses

The CURE for Alzheimer's Disease can be found in our synapses

(Natural News) Americans walk, run, and march “for the cure” for all kinds of different diseases, helping to raise awareness and funds for research, but what if you found out right now there’s a cure for Alzheimer’s Disease, would you “take care of business” starting now or keep wishing someone else might come along to possibly save you later?  Sure, right about now you’re hoping the cure will come in some magical pill or prolific injection, and do the job “overnight,” so you won’t have to do any work or garner long-term diligence – well, there’s good news and bad news – and they’re both the same. Scientists have figured out what causes Alzheimer’s Disease and what cures it, but it’s not some chemical pill or experimental vaccine, so let’s get to work.  The point of connection of neurons is called a synapse, and that’s where neurotransmitters are released and communication happens in the brain. This is where we experiences all of our senses and engage in thought processes, including critical thinking and memory. This is also exactly where dementia happens.  The synapse is where neurons release hormones, glutamates, and small peptides called amyloid beta. The amyloid beta are the brain’s “trash” and a prime factor involved in Alzheimer’s disease, functioning as the main component of plaques that cling to each other and clog up the neural pathway. These are the plaques found in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients.  The power of the elements: Discover Colloidal Silver Mouthwash with quality, natural ingredients like Sangre de Drago sap, black walnut hulls, menthol crystals and more. Zero artificial sweeteners, colors or alcohol. Learn more at the Health Ranger Store and help support this news site.  Normally, these amyloid plaques are swept out of the neural pathway (like trash) by the “custodians of the brain” called microglea. These amazing microglea are the brain’s own immune cells and are the answer to beating brain diseases. Scientists recently discovered through sophisticated experiments that these cells constantly search for brain damage, like a perpetually-running computer virus scan, running surveillance for different levels of damage. The microglea are literally capable of eating infected and damaged cells before infection spreads, while clearing out “debris” from dying cells.  Diseases of dementia therefore begin when amyloid beta begins to accumulate, because too much is released, overwhelming the microglea, and leaving waste in the neural pathways, blocking communication. The synapse piles up with plaques (trash and waste) that become sticky and bind to themselves (think of animal fat clogging your sink drain).  At a certain tipping point, when the body and brain have created too much “trash” for too long, creating massive inflammation and tangles, the microglea become overwhelmed and enter a hyper-mode, where they actually begin attacking healthy cells. Scientists believe the microglea may even, at the tipping point, begin clearing away the synapses themselves. Get it? The cure lives in keeping amyloid plaques from reaching the “tipping point.” Here’s how you do that.  Amyloid plaque accumulation may never be “cured” with a chemical drug or vaccine, but that doesn’t matter, because you can cure the problem yourself. Are you ready to start taking your preventative medicine? It’s not very difficult you know. Let’s break it down to its simplest form, then you decide if you can “pull it off.”  You wouldn’t pick up a poisonous snake just to see if it bites you, and then start searching the internet for the anecdote, would you? You wouldn’t pick some poison ivy and rub it on your skin on purpose, would you? If you were severely allergic to peanuts, you certainly wouldn’t eat a handful just to see what happens. That’s just common sense.  So what if you knew what caused dementia, would you stop eating it? Guess what. Now is the time to stop marching for the cure and start living it, because knowledge is power. Now get this.  White foods are known to cause excess plaque build-up in the brain, leading to dementia. These white foods include white bread, white flour, white rice (except basmati, which is naturally white), white pasta, and white sugar. Stop eating bleached food.  Processed foods and meats cause excess plaque in the synapses, fueling dementia. Avoid processed cheeses (think American cheese especially here), and processed meats, like sausages, bacon, hot dogs, and cold cuts (especially smoked deli meats), and even beer. Nitrosamines in smoked meats cause the liver to produce fats that are toxic to the brain.  Stop eating foods that contain diacetyl, a chemical commonly found in microwave popcorn. Diacetyl increases amyloid plaques in the brain.  You’ll hear it time and time again, that a plant-based diet cures almost every preventable disease and disorder known to humans. It’s true. If you’re a heavy meat eater, your body is struggling to process all that animal fat, creating heart and brain “trash” that your body’s “janitors” just can’t sweep away fast enough.  If you think organic or “expeller pressed” canola oil means that the oil doesn’t coagulate in your body, you’d be dead wrong. After about six weeks, any canola oil that your body hasn’t cleared out looks like a sticky glue you could use to bond cement. Think of all that “trash” blocking your synapses and causing dementia, because that’s exactly what happens.  Did you know that in the U.S. alone, Alzheimer’s care already costs $2 billion a year (one out of every five Medicare dollars)? Dementia kills more people than cancer. Did you know that? Sure, Big Pharma will tell you Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s are not preventable, but both are, and the cure lives in prevention. You may begin now.


naturalnews--2019-03-17--Survival medicine 101 Familiarize yourself with these deadly viruses

Survival medicine 101: Familiarize yourself with these deadly viruses

Commonly found in tropical and subtropical parts of the world, the dengue virus is spread through the bite of an infected mosquito. The symptoms begin to appear four to seven days after being bitten. These symptoms include high fever, headaches, muscle and joint pain, nausea, vomiting, rashes, and swollen glands. This disease is sometimes referred to as “breakbone fever” due to the intense pain it causes to the muscles and joints. Fortunately, most people affected by dengue typically recover within a week. However, for those unlucky few with compromised circulatory systems, the illness may progress into a hemorrhagic fever that has a 20 percent death rate. Other severe symptoms that may accompany the fever include spontaneous bleeding under the skin, difficulty breathing, heightened abdominal pain, and blood in the urine, stool or vomit. To prevent the spread of dengue, you should practice good hygiene and avoid areas where there are plenty of mosquitoes.  The rotavirus is a food-borne illness that is spread through the consumption of contaminated food or water. Every year, this disease kills over half a million children worldwide. While the rotavirus is deadlier in less-developed countries, it is still so prevalent that the World Health Organization believes that every child in the world has been infected with it at least once. After being ingested, the rotavirus attacks the cells of the gut lining, producing a toxin that results in adverse symptoms, such as severe watery diarrhea, fever, cramps, abdominal pain, and vomiting. However, it is the severe watery diarrhea that is the most dangerous symptom of the rotavirus as it may easily lead to severe dehydration in infants and small children. It is important that children afflicted by rotavirus are able to sufficiently replenish their bodily fluids. You can decrease your possibility of contamination by always making sure that your food comes from a clean and reliable source.  Mother Nature's micronutrient secret: Organic Broccoli Sprout Capsules now available, delivering 280mg of high-density nutrition, including the extraordinary "sulforaphane" and "glucosinolate" nutrients found only in cruciferous healing foods. Every lot laboratory tested. See availability here.  The word “rabies” is derived from the Latin word for “madness,” and with good reason. As the disease progresses, it quickly deteriorates the mental state of the infected person, leading to symptoms such as confusion, agitation, paranoia, anxiety, terror, hallucinations, hydrophobia, and general delirium. Rabies directly attacks the salivary glands, which makes the saliva the main route of infection. Rabies is frequently associated with dogs, as they are responsible for over 99 percent of cases in most countries. However, bats and some rodents may also be carriers of rabies. A person can then get infected with rabies through bites or scratches from that animal. After being bitten by a rabid animal, the infected person will not experience the first symptoms until after an incubation period of around one to three months. These symptoms include fever, headaches, and paralysis, but as soon as these symptoms appear, it is almost certainly too late to treat the rabies infection. If left untreated, rabies has a death rate of almost 100 percent. The easiest way to avoid being infected in the first place is to keep away from aggressive dogs and other animals. (Related: From rabies to salmonella: 5 diseases you can get from your pet.)  Learn more about deadly viral infections by going to Outbreak.news.


naturalnews--2019-03-29--Scientists have discovered that the appendix may have a huge role in preserving healthy gut bacteria

(Natural News) The appendix has traditionally been considered a vestigial organ – a useless, evolutionary relic that sometimes turns life-threatening when it becomes severely inflamed, seemingly for no reason. But over the past several years, scientists have been amassing a compelling case that the appendix is actually a critical immune organ and that one of its primary functions is the maintenance of healthy colonies of beneficial bacteria in the gut.  The evidence for this hypothesis has been strengthened by a new study conducted by researchers from Midwestern University, Duke University, the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa and the National Museum of Natural History in France, and published in the journal Comptes Rendus Palevol.  The researchers have previously suggested that the appendix might actually be an immune organ. Scientists from Duke synthesized the findings of a decade of research to suggest the “safe house hypothesis” – that the appendix might function as a repository, or safe house, for beneficial bacteria to protect them from being completely eliminated in a bout of severe diarrhea.  The researchers cited an “abundance of circumstantial evidence” to support this hypothesis, particularly the discovery of a type of intestinal lining known as a biofilm. The biofilm is an amalgamation of beneficial microbes, immune molecules and mucous that has been shown to actively promote beneficial bacterial species. This, in turn, crowds the intestinal ecosystem and leaves limited room for pathogenic species. Research has also shown that biofilms not only extend into the appendix – but are actually thickest there. They seem to radiate into the intestines from that point, becoming sparser the farther out you go.  100% organic essential oil sets now available for your home and personal care, including Rosemary, Oregano, Eucalyptus, Tea Tree, Clary Sage and more, all 100% organic and laboratory tested for safety. A multitude of uses, from stress reduction to topical first aid. See the complete listing here, and help support this news site.  For the new study, researchers studied the intestines and ecological conditions of 533 separate mammals. This allowed them to compare animals that have appendixes — only primates, rabbits, wombats, and opossums — with the rest of the mammals.  The research turned up several compelling facts. First, the researchers found that the appendix has actually evolved independently 30 separate times and that it has nearly never vanished from an evolutionary lineage after arising. This conclusively rules out the “vestigial trait” hypothesis, and strongly (almost conclusively) suggests an adaptive function for the organ.  The ecological analysis also allowed the researchers to rule out two non-immune hypotheses for the function of the appendix: adaptation to particular dietary or environmental factors.  The intestinal analysis further showed that animals with an appendix have a higher concentration in their guts of lymphoid tissue, which is part of the immune system. Among its other functions, lymphoid tissue can stimulate the growth of some beneficial microbes. (Related: The Appendix Has a Purpose After All: Repopulating the Gut with Friendly Flora.)  If the appendix is an immune organ, does that mean that people who’ve had theirs removed have a higher risk of disease?  “In general, people who have had an appendectomy tend to be relatively healthy and not have any major detrimental effects,” researcher Heather Smith said.  Such people might be slightly more prone to certain infections, however, and may take “slightly longer to recover from illness, especially those in which the beneficial gut bacteria has been flushed out of the body,” she said.  Appendicitis is largely an affliction of wealthy, industrialized societies. William Parker, one of the original authors of the safe house hypothesis, has suggested that people in such societies are less likely to be exposed to the kinds of illnesses that the appendix evolved to defend against, thus explaining the minimal side effects of its removal.  But the very “hygenicness” of modern society may also explain why appendicitis occurs at all. Researchers have long suspected that appendicitis is actually an autoimmune disorder, caused when the immune system becomes overreactive against something that is not actually a threat.  The increasingly widely accepted “hygiene hypothesis” alleges that many autoimmune conditions are caused by insufficient exposure to both beneficial and harmful microbes during early life.  “Exposure to pathogens and infectious agents, like bacteria and viruses, is important for the normal development processes of the immune system,” Smith said.


naturalnews--2019-04-17--Chinese Botanical Medicine Wikipedia claims it is fake we are certain it is real

Chinese Botanical Medicine: Wikipedia claims it is fake, we are certain it is real

(Natural News) Modern conventional medicine has increasingly become a culture of scientific and historical denialism. Although portending to be an objective discipline of consistent progress, the medical establishment more often than not denies the insights, discoveries, medical systems and methodologies of the distant past and non-Western cultures. Rather, Western medicine is racing more rapidly towards a retro-future with a blind faith in the promises of new engineered, synthetic drugs. Sadly, this pursuit is misconstrued as synonymous with important medical breakthroughs and the evolution of scientific medicine in general. Yet as the statistics show, modern medicine is on a collision course with itself. This is most evident in the increasing failures conventional medicine faces in fighting life-threatening diseases and the annual increases in iatrogenic injuries and deaths.  Upon graduation, every new physician repeats “I will not give a lethal drug to anyone if I am asked, nor will I advise such a plan.” The Oath composed by the wise Greek medical sage, Hippocrates, goes on to say “I will use those dietary regimens which will benefit my patients according to my greatest ability and judgement, and I will do no harm or injustice to them.” Hippocrates was a naturalist. Unlike physicians today, he was expert in the healing powers found in the natural world and was a keen observer about the health benefits of different foods, plants and herbs. However, modern allopathic doctors are not only largely ignorant about the natural world but also the epigenetic, environmental and behavior causes of diseases and the means to prevent them. They have also removed themselves from honoring the Hippocratic Oath.  The power of the elements: Discover Colloidal Silver Mouthwash with quality, natural ingredients like Sangre de Drago sap, black walnut hulls, menthol crystals and more. Zero artificial sweeteners, colors or alcohol. Learn more at the Health Ranger Store and help support this news site.  How well has modern medicine lived up to its Oath? Adverse drug events (ADEs) are rising. They have become a plague upon public health and our healthcare system. As of 2014, prescription drug injuries totaled 1.6 million events annually. Every day, over 4,000 Americans experience a serious drug reaction requiring hospitalization. And over 770,000 people have ADEs during hospital stays.[1] The most common ADEs are hypertension, congestive heart failure, atrial fibrillation, volume depletion disorders and atherosclerotic heart disease.[2] According to the Centers for Disease Control, in 2016 there were 64,070 deaths directly associated with prescription overdoses; this is greater than the number of American soldiers killed during the entire Vietnam War.[3] For 2017, the CDC reported over 42,000 deaths from prescription opioid drugs alone.[4] Yet this figure is probably much higher due to the CDC’s practice of reporting statistics very conservatively and many cases not getting properly reported. So when we consider that there were over 860,000 physicians in the US practicing in 2016, potentially most physicians in America have contributed to ADEs.  No legitimate and highly developed alternative or natural medical practice has such a dismal track record of illness and death. Nevertheless, when a rare ADE, poisoning or death occurs Skeptics in the radical fringe Science-Based Medicine (SBM) movement, who rabidly oppose Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), are quick to report the incident as a national crisis and condemn the use of traditional natural medicine altogether. Yet if we look at the potential number of iatrogenic injuries and deaths over the last four decades since the start of the pharmaceutical and biotechnology boom in the late 1980s, we are looking at over 60 million ADE incidences caused by conventional Western medicine alone. This is nothing celebrate and no concerted national effort within the medical establishment nor among the followers of SBM is being made to challenge the dominant medical paradigm responsible for this crisis.  According to the World Health Organization, 80% of the world’s population uses herbal medicine. And this trend is increasing exponentially.[5] Skeptics have few viable and rational explanations to account for this trend. Since they regard traditional herbal medical systems as quackery, everyone experiencing relief or having a successful treatment from botanicals is simply having a placebo effect conversion experience. Fortunately in the US and other Western nations, the public is rapidly losing its trust and satisfaction with conventional Western medical practice and is seeking safer alternatives. With healthcare costs escalating annually and prescription ADE’s on the increase as more and more drugs are fast-tracked through federal regulatory hurdles, relying solely upon allopathic medicine is a dangerous bargain. Dr. Dominic Lu at the University of Pennsylvania and president of the American Society for the Advancement of Anesthesia and Sedation recommends that Chinese herbal and Western medicine might complement each other if we make the effort to investigate their synergistic therapeutic effects. Lu believes oriental concepts of human anatomy should be further included in higher educational health science curriculums.[6] In addition, we would also note that with conventional medicine in a crisis people are accessing the numerous resources on the internet to educate themselves about the medicinal properties of plants, herbs, supplements and foods as part of their personal therapeutic protocols.  In our previous article in this series exposing the scientific denialism and ideological agenda of Skepticism’s and Wikipedia’s role in promoting SBM’s regressive agenda to turn people away from non-conventional drug-based medicine, we tackled SBM’s and Wikipedia’s attack on acupuncture. In this segment we will focus upon Chinese botanical medicine. In mainland China, acupuncture and herbology are treated as separate disciplines; therefore we will only look at Chinese botanical medical.  Wikipedia has a noteworthy amount to say about traditional Chinese herbal medicine. However, its major criticisms rely heavily upon five-plus year old reviews of the peer-reviewed research. Some references in fact have nothing to do with Chinese herbology. The majority of clinical research into Chinese botanicals and medical preparations are only found in Chinese databases. Therefore, Western analytical reviews, including the Cochrane reports, are extremely limited, inconclusive and biased. Critics of TCM frequently criticize published Chinese research as “incomplete, some containing errors or were misleading.”[7] These are the same Skeptic criticisms Wikipedia levels against traditional herbal medical systems in general. With over 181,000 peer-reviewed research papers and reviews listed in the National Institutes of Health PubMed database referring to TCM, it is ridiculous and disingenuous to assume Wikipedia’s editors have scoured this massive body of science to make any sound judgement about TCM’s efficacy.  Under the heading “Chinese Herbology,” Wikipedia states, “A Nature editorial described TCM as “fraught with pseudoscience,” and said that the most obvious reason why it has not delivered many cures is that the majority of its treatments have no logical mechanism of action… Research into the effectiveness of traditional Chinese herbal therapy is of poor quality and often tainted by bias, with little or no rigorous evidence of efficacy.”[8] Nature’s editorial, which reflects the same ill-informed opinions frequent in Skeptical criticisms about natural health, does not cite any research to support its sweeping prejudiced opinion. The editorial is primarily a diatribe against the growing popularity of traditional medicine in the Chinese domestic market, estimated by the Boston Consulting Group to be worth $13 billion in 2006.[9] In addition, as noted above, Wikipedia’s sources include a review of herbal medicine published in the South African Medical Journal that only looked at six African botanicals, none which are part of the Chinese pharmacopoeia.[10]  We would be negligent to not state a serious concern that readers should be aware of regarding Chinese medicinal herbs and preparations. This has been rightly noted by the SBM writers and Wikipedia; that is the high levels of toxic contaminants, notably arsenic, lead and other toxic chemicals found in Chinese herbs and formulas being exported. However Wikipedia fails to note the real reasons for this warning. Rather it frames caution as a means to discredit Chinese botanical medicine altogether. The export of toxic herbs is largely due to the enormous and out-of-control environmental problem including toxic atmospheric particulate matter from over-pollution, toxic dumping and waste spills in water supplies and poor agricultural practices. However, in some countries such as Japan and Taiwan, federal regulations for the import and export of medical botanicals are stricter and clean, non-toxic botanical herbs and preparations are readily available. There remain very reliable sources for getting highly quality grown Chinese herbs.  One of SBM’s leading spokespersons David Gorski would like us to believe that Mao Tse-tung should be condemned for restoring traditional Chinese medicine in mainland China. [11] But this is a blatant half-truth. In fact, Gorski and his colleagues have far more in common with Chairman Mao based upon the historical facts. It was during Mao’s reign that classical Chinese medicine took an enormous leap backwards. The ancient system was originally banned during the Chinese Nationalist movement in the early 20th century because its leaders believed the old ways were preventing the nation from modernizing. Mao initially made a small effort to restore the practice when he came to power. However, it was after the Communist Revolution when Mao turned against traditional medicine. The Cultural Revolution again outlawed the practice. Traditional doctors who retained the most extensive knowledge and wisdom about classical Chinese anatomical theory and knowledge of medicinal herbs were systematically gathered for Communist conversion programs, imprisoned and/or killed. TCM nearly died out altogether from the mainland. Years later when the Communists attempted to resurrect the ancient medical wisdom, only a few hundred doctors could be found throughout the country with sufficient knowledge to start TCM anew. Yet Mao remained ambiguous. He wrote, “Even though I believe we should promote Chinese medicine… I personally do not believe in it. I don’t take Chinese medicine.”[12] Unfortunately what is commonly called Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) today is a partial reconstruction of the original ancient system that had developed over thousands of years. Much has been lost. The government’s effort failed. According to Dr. Brigetta Shea, “once the government decided to reinstate some form of China’s traditional medicine, they did it with an emphasis on combining it with Western medical theory. This shifted even acupuncture theory, as Western anatomical teaching was adopted and esoteric subtle anatomy was discarded.”[13] The result has been that TCM today is a mere shadow of what it was in the past, and is little more than a watered down system contaminated with Western reductionist medical theories. Fortunately, growing interest in TCM is inspiring young researchers and practitioners to travel to China, Taiwan, Japan and Korea to try to recover the more ancient classical medical teachings that were not included in the standardized TCM curriculums.  SBM founder Stephen Novella remarks, “TCM is a pre-scientific superstitious view of biology and illness, similar to the humoral theory of Galen, or the notions of any pre-scientific culture. It is strange and unscientific to treat TCM as anything else. Any individual diagnostic or treatment method within TCM should be evaluated according to standard principles of science and science-based medicine, and not given special treatment.”[14] The remainder of Novella’s argument is an example of taking TCM terms literally and not penetrating their deeper functions to discover their correlations with scientifically identified biomolecular substances and events. Novella also believes that the Chinese medical theories of qi and the acupuncture meridians share the same magical thinking as “ether, flogistum, Bigfoot, and unicorns.”[15]  The master physicians and pioneers of the advanced traditional medical systems of Greece, India, China and Tibet, were very skilled and astute in identifying metabolic disturbances in their patients. Although on the surface, the humors may appear to be outdated or primitive mythological terms, a deep study of the traditional medical texts reveals they have direct correspondences to biochemical and biological processes that are well known in modern medicine. For example, according to the recent translators of the enormous medical corpus composed by one of the world’s greatest medical doctors Avicenna in the 11th century, who revived the medical theories of Galen at the height of Islamic civilization’s golden age, Dr. Hakima Amri, professor of molecular biology at Georgetown University and Dr. Mones Abu-Asab, a senior scientist and expert in phylogenetic systematics at the National Institutes of Health, discovered the ancient descriptions of the humors have a direct correlation to properties of fats, proteins and organic acids — the cornerstones of metabolic changes. Due to its linear and non-systematic way of analyzing health and disease, modern medicine focuses upon single metabolic pathways and fails to consider that these pathways work in concert and are co-dependent with others. For example, a patient with high LDL cholesterol will be prescribed a statin without fully understanding the biological imbalances that increased LDL. But traditional herbal systems, including Chinese botanical medicine, provide more parameters such as a tissue’s hydration and energy production in the case of abnormal cholesterol levels. Western medicine does not take into account hydration and energy production in making an accurate diagnostic assessment of the reasons for a patient’s cholesterol imbalance. This is where the ancient theory of humors, or the fundamental “fluids” in the body — traditionally defined as blood, phlegm and yellow and black bile — provides clues.  Western medicine has no equivalent to what traditional systems refer to as “dystemperament” in a biological system or organ. Dystemperament was understood as an imbalance in a person’s unique personalized physical, genetic and psychological disposition. Today the rapidly growing discipline of Functional Medicine finds agreement with this principle for diagnosing and treating an illness. In fact, conventional medicine still endeavors to define the causes of many diseases at a singular cellular or molecular level. It also faces a serious predicament in being based upon a one-drug-one-target paradigm in drug research and development. Traditional systems, including Chinese herbology, being far more complete and efficient medical systems, don’t struggle with this dilemma. For half a century we have spent hundreds of billions of dollars on reductionist biomedical research to identify genes, proteins and metabolic biochemical changes that contribute to disease. But despite the enormous body of knowledge and data we have gathered from astronomic costly projects there have been few practical and meaningful results to find safe and effective treatments outside of prescribing potentially lethal drugs.  Most evidence-based medical reviews of research conducted on the efficacy of specific Chinese herbs fail to take into account that Chinese herbology is a complete system. It is unrealistic to research a single traditional Chinese herb and draw a definitive conclusion. An herbal concoction can include up to 18 or more ingredients, and these may be fermented or simmered for hours to produce pharma-therapeutic properties useful for the treatment of disease. This was noted in a Cochrane review of Chinese medical herbs for treating acute pancreatitis.[16] It is estimated that there are over 13,000 different medicinal ingredients found in the annals of Chinese medical texts and well over 100,000 unique decoctions and recipes. While the vast majority of substances used in Chinese medicinal preparations are plant-based, parts of animals and specific minerals may also be included.[17,18]  Regardless of the Skeptics’ and Wikipedia’s invective to diminish Chinese medicine’s efficacy and successes, TCM is booming and extraordinary research continues to pump out positive discoveries. Even Bayer Pharmaceutical purchased the Chinese herbal company Dihon Pharmaceutical Group in 2014 because of the huge potential for discovering powerful phytochemicals to treat a wide variety of diseases. Helmut Kaiser Consultancy in Germany predicts that annual revenues in Chinese botanicals will triple by 2025 from 2015 revenues of $17 billion.[19] A Morgan Stanley 2012 review found that even among Chinese physicians trained in Western medical schools, TCM is being used as the first line of defense against disease in 30% of medical cases.[20]  Curiously Skeptics and Wikipedia fail to acknowledge that the 2015 Nobel Prize in Medicine was awarded to China’s scientist Tu You-you for her use of the Chinese medical remedy artemisia to develop an anti-malarial drug.[21] In 2015, researchers at the Texas Biomedical Research Institute and the Center for Integrative Protein Science in Munich published their findings in Science of an alkaloid in an ingredient of the Chinese formula Han Fang Ji that protected human white blood cells from the Ebola virus.[22] And in 2006, the FDA gave its first drug approval to an ointment based upon Chinese botanicals, including green tea leaves, for the treatment of genital warts caused by human papillomavirus.[23] In a bioinformatics database analysis comparing phytochemicals in Chinese plants with the modern Comprehensive Medical Chemistry database of pharmaceutical drug ingredients, over 100 Chinese herbal phytochemicals had direct correlates with ingredients used in approved pharmaceutical drugs on the market.[24]  Taking one excellent example of the synergistic effects of herbal combinations in TCM is the duo Coptidis rhizoma and Evodia rutaecarpa. In classical Chinese medical practice, this formula has been given for centuries to treat gastric conditions including rapid healing of ulcers. Modern research has shown that together these herbs inhibit the bacterium Helicobacter pylori, which frequently accompanies ulcers. In the US approximately 20% of people under 40 years and over 50% of those above 60 years are estimated to have an H. pylori infection which can be responsible for gastritis, stomach and duodenal ulcers, gastric lymphoma and stomach cancer. The herbs were also found to contain limonene used in drugs as an antineoplastic molecule and gamalenic acid used in as an ingredient in pharmaceutical anti-tumor drugs.[25]  Finally, we might take a look at the 2017-2018 flu season. In fact, the influenza vaccine for this past season was a dud and failed to protect most recipients from infection. According to the CDC, the vaccine was 36% effective.[26] Almost 100 pediatric flu deaths were reported. However, later research at Rice University determined the vaccine was at best only 20% efficacy.[27] With conventional medicine and our federal health agencies failing to protect the public, tens of thousands of people experiencing the onset of flu-like symptoms rushed to purchase the Chinese herbal cold formula Nin Jiom Pei Pa Koa. The formula costs as little as $6 in New York City’s Chinatown. Pei Pa Koa is one of the most popular cold, flu and cough remedies across East Asia and Singapore. It was first formulated during the Qing dynasty in the 17th century. The results are often immediate. When we desire relief from a health condition that is all that matters.  Therefore, we have absolutely no need for Skeptics preaching from their bully pulpits. There is no need to read the vitriol of Science-based medicine’s priesthood. And we certainly have no need to refer to Wikipedia’s encyclopedia of biased misinformation parroting Skepticism’s paranoia and deceptive efforts to censor natural health. We don’t need any of them to tell us that the relief we experience after taking a medicinal herb or natural formula is only a placebo effect or a figment of our imagination because the scientific research doesn’t meet their standards. The fact of the matter is that the science will never meet their standards because fundamentalists, either religious or science-based, cannot be persuaded by factual evidence that conflicts with their ingrained psychological ideologies and fears. And this is the fundamental fallacy and blatant hypocrisy that runs throughout SBM Skepticism and Wikipedia. It is not “science-based” because it is impoverished of the necessary inquisitive open-mindedness that defines those who are authentic scientists. SBM is faith-based, and holds fealty with a grossly reductionist, petulant and brattish mentality incapable of seeing the forest from the trees. In his criticism of TCM, Novella brings the absurdity of Skepticism to a climax. “I maintain that there are many good reasons to conclude that any system [i.e. TCM] which derives from everyday experience is likely to be seriously flawed and almost entirely cut off from reality.”[28] However, for thousands of years there have been countless people who experienced and claimed the benefits from Chinese botanical medicine. We have no need for Skepticism’s scientific reductionist validation to prove the reality of natural medicine.


naturalnews--2019-08-19--Bacteria may travel around the world using air bridges explaining how superbugs share genes

Bacteria may travel around the world using "air bridges," explaining how superbugs share genes

(Natural News) Bacteria do not need animal or human carriers to spread. A Rutgers-led study suggests that microbes take advantage of natural air currents and use them as bridges to travel from one remote location to another.  The genes that encode antibiotic resistance in bacteria appear in many seemingly unrelated bacterial species. Even microbes separated by thousands of miles rely on the same DNA to protect them from antimicrobial agents.  Rutgers University researcher Konstantin Severinov oversaw a new study on antibiotic-resistant bacteria. He and his colleagues suspected the existence of a natural transportation method that allows bacteria to move across the planet.  “Because the bacteria we study live in very hot water — about 160 degrees Fahrenheit — in remote places, it is not feasible to imagine that animals, birds or humans transport them,” Severinov explained. “They must be transported by air and this movement must be very extensive so bacteria in isolated places share common characteristics.”  The results of their study were published in the journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B. (Related: Yes, you can be TOO clean – and it’s making you prone to superbugs.)  The Rutgers-led study examined the DNA of Thermus thermophilus, a heat-loving bacteria that live in extremely hot areas like geothermal springs. The researchers studied the molecular memories of these microbes from their encounters with bacteriophages.  Bacteriophages are viruses that target bacteria. As the most numerous and widespread life forms on Earth, they exert considerable influence on the populations, communal organization, and evolution of bacteria.  In their experiment, Severinov and his colleagues took samples of T. thermophilus from different sites around the world — the gravel and hot spring on two different volcanoes in Italy, widely separated geothermal springs in northern and southern Chile, and the Uzon volcanic caldera in Russia.  When these bacteria get infected by bacteriophages, they store molecular memories of the viral infection in CRISPR arrays. These highly-specialized DNA regions hold tiny samples of viral DNA so that the cell will remember the event. If a bacterial cell survives a viral infection, it passes those molecular memories to its offspring.  By looking at the arrangement of these molecular memories in a bacterial species, researchers are able to follow the bacteria’s history of interaction with bacteriophages over time.  The researchers chose T. thermophilus because the heat-loving bacteria live in inhospitable environments found in remote locations. Therefore, the different bacterial colonies present in those environments are completely isolated from each other and have no way of directly exchanging molecular memories.  The researchers initially predicted that each isolated bacterial colony will possess unique memories of their previous encounters with viruses. Bacteria that came from the same colony might share the same history, but each colony obtained from separate locations should have different viral-related histories.  The researchers also believe that bacteria evolve at a rapid pace and should therefore be quite different from one another.  “What we found, however, is that there were plenty of shared memories — identical pieces of viral DNA stored in the same order in the DNA of bacteria from distant hot springs,” Severinov said. “Our analysis may inform ecological and epidemiological studies of harmful bacteria that globally share antibiotic resistance genes and may also get dispersed by air instead of human travelers.”  To get further evidence of their “air bridge” hypothesis, Severinov and his team plan to get air samples at various altitudes and locations around the world. He and his team will then identify and compare the molecular memories of the airborne bacteria.


naturalnews--2019-10-10--These key proteins can block bacterial infections without triggering cell death

(Natural News) There are natural proteins in the body that fight off viral infections by causing infected cells to die in a process called necroptosis. A new study by North Carolina-based researchers showed that these same molecules also stop bacterial infections from spreading.  Furthermore, the proteins don’t trigger cell death in infected cells that host pathogenic bacteria. Instead, they block the infection by keeping the harmful microorganism trapped inside the host cell, keeping both alive while also inhibiting the bacterial disease.  Researchers Jun Ninomiya-Tsuji and Kazuhito Sai of North Carolina State University (NC State) discovered the additional role played by the RIPK3 and MLKL proteins. They tested the protective molecules on intestinal cells infected by Listeria monocytogenes.  A pathogenic bacteria that attack the intestines, Listeria infection causes the gut disease listeriosis. Eating contaminated food increases the risk of the illness, which is sometimes fatal. (Related: You should only use antibiotics when they are really needed: Can you recognize a bacterial infection?)  A pair of protective proteins that fight listeriosis and other bacterial infections  The NC State research team found that RIPK3 and MLKL take a different approach to fight listeriosis. When the proteins encounter an infected intestinal cell, they refrain from forcing the host to undergo necroptosis like they do with virus-infected cells.  Instead, the proteins interact with some of the structural components of Listeria. Once they recognize these components, MLKL binds to them.  MLKL then inhibits the replication of Listeria, stopping the bacteria from reproducing and spreading. Meanwhile, the host cell remains alive.  “While we’ve shown that these proteins take on a different function in intestinal epithelial cells than they do in immune cells, we’re still not sure how or why this differentiation occurs,” explained Ninomiya-Tsuji. One of the co-corresponding authors of the paper, he provided the expertise in biological science.  What protects human intestinal cells also protects the gut and liver of mice  In the experiment that he and Sai conducted, they exposed human intestinal cells to Listeria bacteria. Some of the cultures lacked RIPK3, while others possessed sufficient levels of the protective protein.  They found that the RIPK3-deficient cells succumbed to the Listeria infection. Meanwhile, the protein-protected cells rarely fell to the pathogen.  For the next phase, the NC State researchers induced listeriosis in mice. They exposed both RIPK3-deficient and healthy mice to Listeria bacteria, then examined the animals for signs that the bacterial infection spread from the gut to the liver.  As expected, the intestine and liver of the RIPK3-deficient mice showed clear signs of Listeria infection. In contrast, only a few infected cells appeared in healthy specimens.  Why do RIPK3 and MLKL proteins work together?  But the real discovery of Ninomiya-Tsuji and Sai was the teamwork between RIPK3 and its partner MLKL. Upon detecting a Listeria infection, the proteins went into action.  Together, the proteins activated a pathway that shut down the ability of Listeria to replicate itself. They effectively prevented the pathogenic bacteria from multiplying, thus stopping the onset of listeriosis.  Even better, the activation of the RIPK3-MLKL protein-pathway did not cause necroptosis in the infected cell. There was no need to regenerate or replace the intestinal cell.  “These proteins induce cell death to prevent certain infections, particularly in immune cells,” explained Sai. “Inducing death of epithelial cells in the GI tract may cause removal of an important barrier to viruses and bacteria, so it’s possible that these proteins recognize that killing these cells could make things worse instead of better.”  He and Ninomiya-Tsuji hope to learn why the proteins cause the death of viral host cells while settling for inhibiting the spread of listeriosis and other bacterial infections.


birminghammail--2019-03-20--More Birmingham schools suspend No Outsiders LGBT lessons under pressure

Five more Birmingham schools have suspended teaching the award winning 'No Outsiders' equality and LGBT rights programme amid mounting pressure from parents and activists who want it scrapped.  The Leigh Trust, which runs five city primaries, has dropped the programme until after Ramadan in June while it consults with parents.  The trust schools involved are Leigh Primary School, Alston Primary School, Marlborough Junior, Marlborough Infants and Wyndcliff Primary School.  Meanwhile, an uneasy truce between protesting parents and Parkfield School in Saltley has come to an end, with fresh protests due tomorrow at the school gates.  The new wave of protests and suspension of No Outsiders at more schools marks a significant escalation amid concerns the campaign is being fuelled by homophobia and infiltrated by extremists looking to exploit the parents' concerns.  Today Mohammed Aikhlaq, one of the trust's directors and a Labour city councillor representing Ward End, confirmed the programme was being suspended for now.  "We sent letters to parents saying we will hold a board meeting to look at the issue after Ramadan and will be consulting with them about what is in the programme but it is on hold until then."  "Nobody is against LGBT rights but there are concerns about telling four and five year olds about these issues," he said.  "It needs to be age appropriate and they are concerned about that."  The programme has been run in the schools for three years. "When it was introduced we fully consulted with parents. We feel it's right to do that again with a new group of parents.  "I do not feel we are being homophobic, it's a matter of sharing information with parents."  Protests are due to start again tomorrow outside the Parkfield Community School, bringing an end to an uneasy truce designed to help parents and staff resolve the issue.  MPs Liam Byrne and Shabana Mahmood, aided by the region's schools commissioner, LGBT campaigners and Birmingham City Council, had brokered peace talks between parents and the school, which subsequently promised to temporarily halt lessons until resolution was reached.  Photos from a meeting over a curry between LGBT activists and protestors were posted on social media, triggering hopes that a solution was imminent.  However, it appears that truce is now over.  Parkfield parents, using the hashtags #Stop #NoOutsiders , posted on the Alum Rock Community Forum facebook page that a new protest would take place at the school gates tomorrow morning. (Thursday March 21st)  Parkfield campaigner Ahmid Ahmed had earlier told the BBC his community was "respectful and tolerant" of British values but now felt victimised.  He claimed parents who had protested were "effectively seen as homophobes in the wider community".  "Fundamentally the issue we have with No Outsiders is that it is changing our children's moral position on family values on sexuality and we are a traditional community.  "Morally we do not accept homosexuality as a valid sexual relationship to have. It's not about being homophobic... that's like saying, if you don't believe in Islam, you're Islamophobic."  That drew a critical reaction from the city council's deputy leader Brigid Jones, who tweeted:  "Saying 'morally we don't accept homosexuality as a valid sexual relationship' is homophobia. Cheering on someone who stands outside a school with a megaphone shouting that children aren't safe with a gay teacher is homophobia. I do not understand how there is ambiguity about this.'  MP Mr Byrne, whose Hodge Hill constituency includes Parkfield, said talks were continuing to try to bring about a resolution.  He said parents at the school did not endorse homophobic views.  A new cross party education equalities group is also being set up in the city, and new talks are also taking place this week between Parkfield parents, LGBT+ representatives and Department for Education officials, he said.  Sara Khan, the national lead commissioner on Counter Extremism, was in Birmingham this week. In an exclusive interview with BirminghamLive she said: "There is evidence people travelled from other parts of the country, including South Wales, to exploit the situation at Parkfield School.  "It is a tactic used by extremists - they get involved in an issue they have no stake in, handing out leaflets, posting videos and flyers online, to create a climate that is not helpful. We know that is what was happening here."  Perry Barr MP Khalid Mahmood also broke his silence on the issue, saying he understands the concerns of Muslim parents about the age appropriateness of some aspects of No Outsiders.  "The issue here for many parents is whether the programme is teaching materials that are age appropriate for younger children. I have previously criticised people promoting the wearing of the hijab in primary schools as I feel that too is not age appropriate and is sexualising young people - if I say that, then I have to say the same here to maintain an even balance."  Parkfield's assistant headteacher Andrew Moffat, who created and piloted No Outsiders, previously revealed how he felt targeted amid personal threats and insults, but vowed he was "in exactly the right place" and "feedback from the vast majority of parents has been good".  Ironically, he was today flying out to Dubai to hear if he has been named world teacher of the year. Moffatt is one of 10 teachers from around the world who have made it to the shortlist for the  Varkey Foundation Global Teacher Prize 2019. The award will be announced this weekend.  He was selected from more than 10,000 nominations from 179 countries in recognition of his work promoting inclusivity and tolerance among schoolchildren.