US CDC to vaccinate 6000 Sierra Leonean healthcare workers

NBC News has reported that the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) is assisting in the preparation of a Sierra Leonean Ebola vaccine trial on 6000 healthcare workers. Sierra Leonean doctors, nurses and ambulance drivers are reportedly to receive a vaccine designed by US and Canadian government researchers. The vaccine is manufactured by a company called New Link Genetics, licensed to Merck. “It uses an animal virus called vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) to carry tiny pieces of the Ebola virus to help train the immune system to recognize it”. NBC report that “several vaccine trials are under way in or planned for Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea and researchers are also testing drugs and blood products such as plasma to see if they help patients recover from the highly lethal virus”. The director of CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, Dr Anne Schuchat, is reported to have said “It's unusual for the CDC to lead a late-stage vaccine trial, but the epidemic is "so devastating" that the CDC needed to join the mix”, and that the interest from the CDC is “helping strengthen the research capacity in-country and working on partnerships... We really hope to help with their resilience and recovery”. However Sierra Leonean government figures reveal that there were only 14 new confirmed cases as of the 22nd February 2015.

Smart meters known to cause harm

Former California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) president, Michael Peevey, has apparently always believed that smart meters caused harm to people, but deferred his lawful responsibility to The Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E). Around 65,000 emails between PG&E’s former Vice President, Brian Cherry, and Peevey have been publicly released revealing collusion and conspiracy, and Peevey delaying on any action for years. Within the emails Cherry and Peevey violate their own rules of procedure while admitting to health harm and overbilling problems – of which several thousand Californians had been warning about since 2008. It’s also noted that an email from Cherry to Tom Bottorff – a senior VP who left in disgrace but received $1.1M in severance pay – outlines the CPUC conspiracy to delay smart meter hearings until all smart meters had already been installed. Further proof of corruption continues to surface as Peevey’s home computers, hard drives and smart phones were seized in January by investigators.

Statins to be reassessed

Oxford Professor, Sir Rory Collins, has said that his team will carry out a “challenging” reassessment of the evidence that helped rubber stamp statins as safe. This comes after concerns have been raised over the safety of the heart drug and whether the original research looked at possible side effects or not. Patients have continually complained of muscle pain, cataracts, diabetes, fatigue, memory loss and more, and Dr Collins now admits that additional work is needed to convince the public that statins are safe. The editor in chief of the British Medical Journal, Fiona Godlee, commented “This is of real concern. We wrongly assumed all the details of possible side effects had been thoroughly assessed before new guidance effectively made tens of thousands of people eligible for this drug. We now know this is not the case and would urge any re-analysis is done in the most transparent way.” All drug companies and authors of all the major statin trials are now being asked to release their complete trial data and findings. We have to agree with Jerome Burne on this one – are the team who failed to consider side effects, and then ignored reports of them from patients and doctors, the best choice to do the reassessment?

State kidnaps 7 children before finding a reason to do so

Hal and Michelle Stanley’s family has been ripped apart by the State of Arkansas.  Their 7 home-schooled, healthy, happy children were removed from their home one evening by a SWAT team, Arkansas State Troopers, a coroner, a doctor, a dozen cars, a medical van, and a sniper in a ditch allegedly aiming at the parents on the front porch. The reason? A search warrant for a water purifier product known as MMS… which, although not approved by the FDA, it is not illegal or banned. The Christian couple home school all of their children, who were born at home, they are as sustainable and self-sufficient as possible and prioritise creating a home full of love over materialism.  Constitutional attorney, Jonathan Emord, believes the situation reveals “an abuse of power that is extraordinary,” and that this kind of “heavy-handed abuse” is happening in other parts of the United States as well.

Consumer watchdog re-iterates that the GMO science is NOT settled

In the wake of the recent US approval for the GMO ‘Arctic’ apple, and “widespread media reports wrongly characterizing the science on GMOs as settled”, a response has been issued by leading consumer, food safety and environmental groups. The groups include Consumers Union, Center for Food Safety, Friends of the Earth and Pesticide Action Network. The groups have drawn attention again to the “January 24 statement in the journal Environmental Sciences Europe, signed by 300 scientists, physicians and scholars, that asserts there is no scientific consensus on the safety of GMOs”. Doug Gurian-Sherman, PhD, senior scientist and director of sustainable agriculture, at the Center for Food Safety has said “It is unfortunate that self-appointed advocates for the technology have selectively cited the literature and organizations to suggest that GE crops, generally, present no risks that warrant concern”. Michael Hansen PhD of the Consumers Union said, “Not one independent, public safety study has been carried out on the Arctic apple, and yet some media stories have reported it is safe… We call on the press to accurately report on the science of GMOs, particularly the health and environmental concerns raised by scientists and the lack of required safety studies that leave questions about the safety of genetically engineered foods”.

New study finds early introduction reduces peanut allergy risk

A new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine has found that “The early introduction of peanuts significantly decreased the frequency of the development of peanut allergy among children at high risk for this allergy and modulated immune responses to peanuts”. The study of 640 infants was led by George Du Toit, M.B., B.Ch., and was funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and others. The researchers said “Our findings showed that early, sustained consumption of peanut products was associated with a substantial and significant decrease in the development of peanut allergy in high-risk infants. Conversely, peanut avoidance was associated with a greater frequency of clinical peanut allergy than was peanut consumption, which raises questions about the usefulness of deliberate avoidance of peanuts as a strategy to prevent allergy”.

Burger King to make UK home deliveries

Fast-food burger giant, Burger King, is trialling a home delivery service in parts of the UK such as Hornchurch, Gants Hill, Romford, Hayes, Northampton and more. The fast-food chain has already rolled out delivery in the US and, depending on how the UK trial goes, it could be rolled out nationwide. The reaction from those content to await their dinner in a cardboard box from the comfort of their sofas has been largely positive and the demand for fast-food delivered to the door is growing. Burger King is the first traditional outlet in the UK to offer direct home delivery as most other outlets utilise the services of delivery sites.

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