Healthcare Freedom Is Vital

[lucy]

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Please take the time to look at this website and the issues presented, but there are so many other aspects to our freedom of choice in how we approach health and healing.

http://www.healthfreedomusa.org/

[ivanm]

Please take the time to look at this website and the issues presented, but there are so many other aspects to our freedom of choice in how we approach health and healing.

http://www.healthfreedomusa.org/

If people keep throwing these side issues into the healthcare debate then we will get nada, zip. 

[lucy]

Hardly a side issue. It is a critical issue that our freedom to explore alternatives to pharmaceutical "cures" that are often not cures at all, but enforced drug mandates that keep us dependent on the drug as a bandaid to illness until eventually we simply die.

Do the research yourself, please.

Thanks.

[ivanm]

Hardly a side issue. It is a critical issue that our freedom to explore alternatives to pharmaceutical "cures" that are often not cures at all, but enforced drug mandates that keep us dependent on the drug as a bandaid to illness until eventually we simply die.

Do the research yourself, please.

Thanks.

I haven't been forced to take any prescription drugs, have you?  And there is plenty of alternative substances out there that can be tried wo what is the issue lucy?


Yeh, I have fallen for that line to at times, and in two cases I simply wasted my time and money.  One was with a substance that was supposed to remove skin tags.  If you want to get rid of them then see your doctor and have them removed, it is just that simple.  Another was the use of glucosamine, or joint juice for arthritis. The neigbor lady, who is big on home remedies and alternate medicines, swore by it and yet my wife and I both tried it and wasted our time and money.

I think that one fallacy about the use of alternate medicines is that without a firm and accurate diagnosis a person can be wasting his time and money.  And by not getting a professional diagnosis one can also hurt himself in the long wrong by delaying effective treatment, assuming there is such a thing.  Granted, for some conditions the medical profession doesn't seem to have much to offer.

If the real issue is having the freedom to try other things then you have a point, but do you really think it will go that far as to deny us that freedom? I know the pharmas are greedy hogs and are not above trying such a thing but
I think it is premature to be hollering foul.

[lucy]

This might be a sign of things to come for the US as well...

"Makers of natural-health products say they are bracing for widespread layoffs and millions of dollars in losses after Canada's pharmacy regulators issued a surprise directive recently urging druggists to stop selling unlicensed natural remedies.

The order affects thousands of herbal treatments, multi-vitamins and other products, most of them waiting for approval from Health Canada under a backlogged, five-year-old program to regulate natural-health goods.

The National Association of Pharmacy Regulatory Authorities (NAPRA) says pharmacists cannot be assured the products are safe until they are granted a government licence, and should not sell them in those circumstances. "Pharmacists are obliged to hold the health and safety of the public or patient as their first and foremost consideration," said the association's recently issued position statement.

Representatives of the natural health industry, however, have reacted angrily to the directive issued last month, predicting it will have little impact on patient safety, while triggering an economic "crisis" for their members.

"We are talking about job loss, we are talking about a lot of income loss, we are talking about product stuck in warehouses that cannot be sold," Jean-Yves Dionne, a spokesman for the Canadian Health Food Association, said in an interview.

A statement issued by the association calls the directive self-serving and contrary to federal government policy.

"It has taken a sledge hammer to a finishing nail," the group said. "It will create confusion for consumers. It is the wrong thing to do."

NAPRA is comprised of representatives of the provincial colleges of pharmacy that regulate the profession. It is now up to the individual provinces to implement the statement. The Ontario and Quebec colleges have already done so, with Ontario pressing pharmacists to not buy or order any more of the affected products, and its neighbour pushing for druggists to also remove unlicensed product already on their shelves, Mr. Dionne said.

Pharmacies, as surprised by the directive as anyone, are caught in the middle, said Jeff Poston of the Canadian Pharmacits Association.

"One of the questions that everybody is asking in the pharmacy world is, ‘Why now?' As far as people can determine, nothing has significantly changed."

A spokesman for NAPRA was not available for comment.

The controversy revolves around Health Canada's natural-health products regime, launched in 2004 to vet treatments that had been virtually unregulated before, in a new system some critics said was still too lax. As it ploughed through tens of thousands of applications for licences, the department said manufacturers could continue selling their products, so long as they had at least applied for approval.

The department has issued about 18,000 natural-health licences, while at least 10,000 products are still waiting for certification, industry representatives said. The whole process was supposed to be done by this January.

The natural-food association argues that it makes no sense for the pharmacy regulators to try to block sales of products awaiting licences, when Health Canada itself has said they can be sold pending an approval decision.

The industry is worth an estimated $1.5-billion to $2-billion a year, but many producers are small operations with sales of $1-million to $2-million annually and could be decimated by the directive, Mr. Dionne said. He cited a call he got last week from a manufacturer in Nova Scotia who sells two products -- a homeopathic remedy for diabetes-related pain and a vitamin-based pill -- that are waiting for approval and could be forced off the shelves.

"They are really panicking out there," he said.


Read more: http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=2534645#ixzz0exG8VFay
The National Post is now on Facebook. Join our fan community today.

[lucy]

We tend to "believe" doctors who prescribe treatments for various illnesses...often the drugs themselves have powerful side-effects.

If one does the research and reads testimonials of those who have experienced positive results from natural remedies, there is an amazing body of evidence which clearly indicates the validity of taking certain vitamins and changing one's diet to offset and sometimes cure illnesses without the harmful side effects of pharmaceuticals...

The government has no right to take the right to choose alternatives for one's personal health. Yet, this is exactly what codex is about to do as the situation in Canada shows.

[ivanm]

We tend to "believe" doctors who prescribe treatments for various illnesses...often the drugs themselves have powerful side-effects.

If one does the research and reads testimonials of those who have experienced positive results from natural remedies, there is an amazing body of evidence which clearly indicates the validity of taking certain vitamins and changing one's diet to offset and sometimes cure illnesses without the harmful side effects of pharmaceuticals...

The government has no right to take the right to choose alternatives for one's personal health. Yet, this is exactly what codex is about to do as the situation in Canada shows.

Suppose a person has a life threating illness or condition.  Should he or she not see a doctor and not avail themselves to what the medical profession has to offer?  My step daughter just came thru 5 weeks of hospitalization for pneumonia, and spend 13 days on a ventilator.  Tell me that alternative medicine would have saved her.

[dagon]

Suppose a person has a life threating illness or condition.  Should he or she not see a doctor and not avail themselves to what the medical profession has to offer?  My step daughter just came thru 5 weeks of hospitalization for pneumonia, and spend 13 days on a ventilator.  Tell me that alternative medicine would have saved her.

i'm with you on this one ivan.  just disconnected my dad in sept.  his lunges spungified and and there was nothing that we could do.  sometimes alternative medicine is just wishful thinking.

peace

[ivanm]

i'm with you on this one ivan.  just disconnected my dad in sept.  his lunges spungified and and there was nothing that we could do.  sometimes alternative medicine is just wishful thinking.

peace

I can see taking supplements and the like to remain healthy but when a disease caused by an organism strikes it seems that appropriate antibiotics or meds should be considered and used.  Natural healing is pretty iffy and slow it seems to me.

By the way dagon I want to compliment you for being a gentleman and not sniping at me whenever I make a post. 
The world needs more folks like you.  I can work with you because you treat me with respect and I try to return the favor.  We don't have to agree on everything but if we can have congenial and objective discussions then that is what I am looking for.

There is just too much acrimony on this forum at times to make it a nice place to be and you are a breath of fresh air.

[lucy]

Sen.  John McCain has introduced a horrific bill, S 3002, the “Dietary Supplement Safety [sic] Act of 2010″  (DSSA) designed to end your access to high potency supplements by giving the bloated, corrupt and dangerous FDA MORE power to destroy supplement access.  This bill is  absolutely NOT to be confused with DSHEA, the Dietary Supplements Health and Education Act (1994), which says nutrients are food and, as food, you can have them in any form – and any amount – you like.  If we allow DSSA to pass, we will be living – and dying – under something very much like the European Food Supplements Directive’s anti-supplement restrictions, implementing Codex Alimentarius’ dietary supplements and nutritional restrictions, to the “T” — effective as close to immediately as the Fraud and Death Administration can manage it. Listen to the Dr. Rima Reports as Dr. Rima interviews Sarah Schones, MD, a German Immunologist practicing natural medicine in Germany: .  Food Supplements are going the way of the dodo in the EU.  The US is clearly next unless we act now – in massive numbers, once for each member of your family, at

http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/568/t/1128/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=26714

Your legal right to access supplements and herbs will, quite frankly, be a thing of the past. As we predicted years ago, the end of the first decade of the new millennium was intended to be when we lost our Health Freedom. Will you let that happen?

For several years, the Natural Soluitions Foundation has kept you abeast of the battle for our food, our health, our freedom, indeed, as we documented and discussed in our 2010 Health Freedom War Council last month, our very lives.  We have predicted that the FDA’s Big Pharma Phriendly policies would bring Codex-style restrictions home to us as “safety” when, in fact, they are nothing short of health tyranny.

Take away high potentcy nutrients, herbs and other nutritional aids and what do you have?  Pharma triumphant and health freedom defeated — a total rout, and the end of the DSHEA freedoms we rely on. Since the unanimous adoption by Congress of the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 (DSHEA) we have seen a blossuming of advanced, leading-edge, high potency nutrition sought out by hundreds of millions to achieve and maintain a healthy lifestyle. We’ve warned these freedoms were under sustained attack. Senator McCaine has just escalated the attack.

Once again, the Natural Solutions Foundation brings you the important stories — we warned you, within hours of McCain announcing his intent, that this was happening, http://vitaminlawyerhealthfreedom.blogspot.com/2010/02/mccain-bill-poses-threat-to-dshea-and.html.

We call upon you to act now! By clicking here, http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/568/t/1128/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=26714, you are joining those who have acted upon this important information and have begun to awaken the public to this threat. It’s time to move to ACTION.

Read more about this dangerous bill here - http://www.healthfreedomusa.org/?p=4608


Big Pharma does not like competition or the fact that so many people are actually curing cancer with natural methods rather than fall into the chemo/radiation trap, which kills YOU usually before it actually kills off the cancer in most cases.

And various cancera are just one illness involved. Diabetes, heart disease, etc...many illnesses caused by pollutants and chemicals added to our food and water, etc.

Just do the research. If you are not convinced of the importance of the freedom to buy herbs and pursue natural remedies, then fine. BUT, for so many out there these are life-saving measures.

[ivanm]

We tend to "believe" doctors who prescribe treatments for various illnesses...often the drugs themselves have powerful side-effects.

If one does the research and reads testimonials of those who have experienced positive results from natural remedies, there is an amazing body of evidence which clearly indicates the validity of taking certain vitamins and changing one's diet to offset and sometimes cure illnesses without the harmful side effects of pharmaceuticals...

The government has no right to take the right to choose alternatives for one's personal health. Yet, this is exactly what codex is about to do as the situation in Canada shows.

I agree lucy, the government should not prohibit the use of these alternatives. 

However, I am not going to trust my health to snake oil peddlers in spite of the downside of using prescription drugs.  For example, I use Doxazosin for high blood pressure and it can have side effects like nasal congestion. There may be natural remedies to using such a drug but I am not going to play games with my blood pressure as high blood pressure has some very serious consequences such as kidney failure, blindness, and stroke.

The alternatives may help to control the blood pressure but I doubt any would prevent it.  I could be wrong but certain maladies like diabetes, high blood pressure, and cholestoral problems just happen to certain people regardless of their lifestyle or diet.  Maybe these diseases are genetic in the sense that they are passed on from one generation
to the next.
 
I can control my blood pressure quite well with Doxazosin, 4 mg per day, and for pennies a day.  Show me an alternative that is proven to work as well and for that little bit of money. In fact, my Doxy costs me peanuts because the insurance covers 80 percent of the cost.  This is something the alternatives usually do not enjoy, and
that is coverage by insurance.  So lucy it is not cut and dried when it comes to chosing an alternative over a prescription drug. 

My neighbor is about my age, came from a poor Mexican family, and is hung up on home remedies and alternatives.  I don't know what she thinks of prescription drugs or licensed doctors but she sometimes tries to convince us to use some alternatives.  Glucosamin was something she swore by because it helped some of her former customers.  She makes her living as a live in care giver for sick and elderly people.  She insisted that Edna and I try the glucosamin and we did it for 90 days with no benefit.

The fallacy or downside of using alternatives to treat a medical condition is that is is a crap shoot.  She didn't know what our problems were and yet she was advocating a fix for those problems.  In my case my arthritis is osteoarthritis, and it appears that glucosamin will not help that situation, and will certainly not fix it.  In osteoarthrits the cushion between the parts of a joint is damaged, even destroyed by some organism, and it will not repair itself. 
So taking the joint juice is pointless as there is nothing to repair. 

[johnhp]

Lucy

Let me get this right: you want the right to consume designer steroids?

[lucy]

http://healthfreedom.info/


What's the big deal about steroids, anyway? I think only sports outlets have regulations about players using them, no?

[lucy]

I keep asking myself why there is such urgency now to pass the healthcare bill. The benefits do not start until 2013, but the taxes for which start immediately after the bill is passed...hmmmm.

You can mandate the loss of life through loss of available services to a great extent in 4 years, and meanwhile every single family will be burdened with paying for this...regardless.

This is a takeover of our FINANCIAL AND CHOICE FOR HEALTHCARE MEASURES/FREEDOMS, imo...And you think healthcare will be MORE AFFORDABLE? For whom, if we are paying through the nose for non-existent services and with the IRS the collector of our premiums/

This bill is so against any real incentive for protecting the individual's freedom to choose....imo/

[Pepsi]

I keep asking myself why there is such urgency now to pass the healthcare bill.

one reason is ~45,000 of your fellow Americans are dying each year because of a lack of health insurance. 

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE58G6W520090917

Another is ~60% of bankrupcies in this country are a result of medical bills

http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/content/full/hlthaff.w5.63/DC1