The Curse Of Financially Polluted GMO Study Data – 672 Research Papers Reviewed

Even among those of us that haven’t done their research into GMO food products, there is an uncertainly about not only what they actually are, but no one seems to know about the safely of these inventions either. For that’s what they are; inventions. Not natural, but man made.

Research on genetically modified products needs to be paid for. While it’s ideal that the producers of such products should bear the cost of the research into their own products, there is a big question mark hanging over the conclusions of this type of research. For example, when a company wants to sell product, wouldn’t they want favorable results into the research of their patented money makers?

The Review Into Conflicts Of Interest In GMO Studies

In this study, the authors were looking for the extent of conflicts of interest (COI) in employment statuses only. The parameters used to assign to each piece of research were: “favorable’, ‘neutral’ or ‘unfavorable’ to the financial interests of at least one GM crop company.”

The goal of this study was to measure the extent of COIs in the field of research of GMO products and to “test the hypothesis that study outcomes for the efficacy or durability of Bt crops are more frequently favorable to the interests of GM crop companies in the presence than in the absence of COI’s.”

The authors received no funding for this research task, they were just keen to know how much shenanigans is going on inside the research field of GM products.

If every other form of COI was accounted for, the results would very likely be much higher because of the way this industry is cross linked every which way via being consultants, members of advisory boards or co-holders of patents or intrinsic or intellectual COIs.

“Like Sanchez and Diels et al. we found that COI’s were widespread in the articles considered. Only about 7% of the articles contained a declaration of COI, but about one fifth of the 672 articles had at least one author from a GM crop company.”

Let me do the maths for you; that’s 134 research papers that had a COI, merely based on their employment status!

The authors of this review study propose that the GMO companies still pay for the research into their own products, but, that there should be a pool of monies mainly funded by the companies but also contributed to by governments and NGO’s that could fund research that is independent of financial stakeholders influence.

This would add a layer of confidence to the supposed scientific research surrounding GMO’s that we could all rely on. As it stands, the whole system stinks of money, with not even a whiff of duty of care.

More Conflict Of Interest

The pharmaceutical company, Merck, bought and does deliveries of Dr Paul Offit’s book, “What Every Parent Should Know About Vaccines,” to American doctors. This is another incidence where a conclusion of conflict of interest could possibly be drawn.

Do you know who Paul Offit is? He is an American pediatrician specializing in infectious diseases and an ‘expert on vaccines’ working for the CDC, of course! In addition, he’s also the co-inventor of the rotavirus vaccine. Surely CDC employees are not able to sell their own products to the industry they are charged with protecting us from? Yes they are, and yes they do.

Even CDC Employees Are Fed Up

Even the order followers at the CDC have had enough and are asking questions of their employer as to unethical behavior.

The ethics complaint by a group of 12 senior CDC scientists calling themselves ‘Preserving Integrity, Diligence and Ethics in Research’ or (CDC SPIDER)

It remains to be seen what the response to the CDC ethical complaint will be, if any.

Who Can We Trust?

As you’ve just read, the there is a ton of conflict of interest surrounding GMO studies. If we can’t trust the scientific community to stand for what is right, instead of standing for money, who and what CAN we trust?

Remember Grandma? Remember her pottering around in her garden, seemingly haphazardly tending her garden, then bringing you inside for a delicious bowl of veggie soup?

Do you ever remember her talking to you about what fabulous fruits and veggies she was growing at the moment? If you don’t remember this, then I’m very sorry, you missed out. However, some of us got the jump on living a natural and healthy life with a Grandma, just like I described. THAT’S who you can trust!

Grandma’s lessons of how to live naturally ring especially true today. Eat clean, organic whole foods. Avoid toxins and toxic environments. Avoid man made food products. Grow your own food. Nature and Grandma know best!

References

http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0167777

http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/healthcare/301432-the-cdc-is-being-being-influenced-by-corporate-and-political

http://yournewswire.com/deadstream-media-ignoring-gmo-studies/

The Curse Of Financially Polluted GMO Study Data – 672 Research Papers Reviewed

Sick pay and work assessments to be reviewed, Jeremy Hunt reveals

The system of sick pay and GP “fit notes” is to be reviewed by the government, as Jeremy Hunt, the health secretary, highlighted the growing cost of long-term sickness to the NHS and suggested getting people back to work had major benefits for health.

The review will be announced in a draft consultation document published by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) on Monday, which will also examine changes to the controversial work capability assessments (WCA) undergone by disabled people in order to obtain welfare.

Ministers released little detail about how sick pay and fit notes, previously known as sick notes, would be changed, but said they wanted to “support workers back into their jobs faster and for longer”. It could involve a greater move towards people having a phased return to work after they are signed off sick and more contact between employers and sick employees.

Hunt said there was a £7bn cost to the NHS of treating long-term health conditions that keep people out of work, and suggested that employment could be a part of recovery. “This green paper launches a wide-ranging debate about recognising the value of work as a health outcome,” he said. “With all the evidence showing that work is a major driver of health, this is a big opportunity: to make sure that people get the support they need, improve their health, and benefit the NHS all at the same time. I hope that health professionals will contribute their expertise so that we can ensure the best possible outcomes.”

Hunt was backed by Duncan Selbie, the chief executive of Public Health England, who said health, wellbeing and happiness were “inextricably linked to work”. Selbie said: “People in work generally have better health, so it makes perfect sense for the government to do all it can to support employers to close the gap around employment, disability and illness and to enable people to work when they can.”

The consultation document is aimed at helping to get disabled people and those with long-term conditions back into work, with a specific focus on mental health and musculoskeletal conditions such as arthritis.

Damian Green, the work and pensions secretary, appears to be unwinding some of the policies of his predecessor, Iain Duncan Smith, by reconsidering the work capability assessment. He announced at the Conservative party conference that people with severe, long-term health conditions would no longer have to be reassessed for their benefits under the WCA.

The new review will consult on scrapping the process that puts disabled people into two groups of being unable to work or capable of some work.

“When things need improving, like the work capability assessment and fit notes, we mustn’t shy away from big decisions,” he said. “We must be bold in our ambition to help disabled people and those with health conditions. This green paper marks start of our action to confront the attitudes, prejudices and misunderstandings that, after many years, have become ingrained within the welfare state, within the minds of employers and across wider society.”

However, Debbie Abrahams, the shadow work and pensions secretary, said the review of the disability benefit assessment process did not go far enough. “For Damian Green to claim that this Tory government is confronting the negative ‘attitudes and prejudices’ that it has spent six years encouraging is ridiculous,” she said. “It is an insult to the hundreds of thousands of disabled people who have been on the receiving end of their callous social security regime, like my constituent who was sanctioned after having a heart attack during his jobcentre appointment.

“I have announced that Labour will scrap the work capability assessment and the Tories’ punitive sanctions; anything less is tinkering at the edges.”

Sick pay and work assessments to be reviewed, Jeremy Hunt reveals

Cancer drug appraisal needs to be reviewed | Letters

Sarah Boseley’s article (Cancer drug companies cut prices to win NHS approval, 18 August) is a welcome demonstration of how serious the UK pharmaceutical industry is about doing everything possible to ensure cancer patients get access to much needed medicines, yet it fails to offer a rounded perspective on affordability and drugs availability in the NHS. Our industry is acutely aware that our health service has limited money to treat millions of patients with wide-ranging medical conditions, but continuing to cut prices may not be sustainable into the future and is no silver bullet.

Our industry is playing its part. A long established deal has already seen drugs companies pay back more than £1.3bn to the government in the last 18 months to help keep NHS spending on medicines affordable. Medicines and vaccines offer some of the best – and most cost-effective – measures we have of preventing, managing and eliminating the world’s most debilitating diseases, but whether or not these successfully reach NHS patients requires fundamental changes to the way medicines are appraised, and how they eventually become adopted and used.

By over-relying on the Quality-adjusted Life Year as National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s main measure of value, many cancer medicines are disadvantaged. More flexibility, as is seen in other countries, is needed. Nice’s basic cost-effectiveness threshold for assessing value for money is also more than 15 years old and has not kept pace with either the cost of R&D or the NHS budget. With cancer medicines now more effective than ever, we are seeing scenarios where some new medicines used in combination with established treatments would, perversely, be rejected by Nice even if they were given away free due to the fact that patients are living longer.

With 7,000 new medicines in the pipeline in Europe today our industry delivers real innovation for patients. To make sure that the most effective of these are adopted and made available, companies need to offer value for money and the health system needs to ensure that assessment methods are fit for purpose. This is crucial if we are serious about delivering a world-class health service now – and into the future.
Dr Richard Torbett
Executive director, commercial, Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry

• Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com

Cancer drug appraisal needs to be reviewed | Letters

Acne drug RoAccutane to be reviewed over suicides

It could then be referred to European level the place decisions on whether to preserve it on the market can be created.

The group will be incorporate specialists in clinical pharmacology, dermatology, psychiatry and a representative from the British Association of Dermatologists.

As long ago as 2006 scientists linked the drug to depression and suicidal thoughts following experiments on mice.

Households protested outside the headquarters of the producer Roche, in Welwyn Backyard City, Herts.

They integrated the dad and mom of Jamie Sillcock, 26, who suffocated himself in December 2012 following years of mental well being issues he blamed on the drug.

He was prescribed RoAccutane at 16 but stopped 18 months later on when he began struggling anxiousness, fatigue and blurred vision.

His dad and mom Melvin and Lorraine say he never ever acquired the drug out of his technique and was plagued by mental wellness difficulties for eight many years.

^{Melvin and Lorraine Sillcock (SWNS)}

Mr Sillcock, 62, a photographer from Bapchild, Kent said: “They require to uncover out why this drug has an effect on a percentage of individuals in the way it does.

“It really is like Russian roulette – no a single knows how significantly damage it will do to each man or woman.

“The companies are creating hundreds of thousands off RoAccutane – but it has caused devastation for 1000′s of households.

“We’re pleased that the government appear to be taking this significantly, at last.

“I don’t consider this would have took place without the stress from the households so we do see it as a little victory.

“Even so we won’t end fighting until finally this drug is both created safe or taken off the shelves for very good.”

A Roche spokeswoman stated: “RoAccutane has transformed the lives of several acne sufferers, but like most medicines it can have side results.

“While no definitive cause and result romantic relationship has been established to right hyperlink mood swings and depression with the drug, there have been rare reviews, amongst the two these taking RoAccutane and acne sufferers in standard.

“As a caution we suggest that anybody going through these, or other attainable side effects with the treatment, to tell their physician right away.”

In 2012 Jack Bowlby, 16, the nephew of racehorse trainer Jenny Pitman, was found dead at his boarding school.

His family mentioned they felt RoAccutane ‘may have played a part’ in his death, and that sufferers and their mothers and fathers ought to be ‘very conscious of the attainable risks’.

The identical year Melissa Martin-Hughes, 18, hanged herself soon after spiralling into depression because of extreme acne.

The grammar schoolgirl, who was predicted to get 3 A*s in her A-ranges, had been taking the drug for her situation.

A spokesman for the MHRA said: “An professional group of the Commission of Human Medicines will be assembled to think about all information on the danger of psychiatric adverse reactions related with Roaccutane.

“It will also clarify how to best minimise that chance and what more research should be undertaken to achieve that. The date of this meeting has not nevertheless been finalised but will probably in the coming months.”

Acne drug RoAccutane to be reviewed over suicides