Health Plus Letter Vol. 2, No. 6

The Health Plus Letter

February 17, 2004, Vol. 2, No. 6

By Larry Trivieri, Jr. – founder & publisher

Table Of Contents:

What’s New (An Interesting Healer and I’m Back on the Radio)

Quote of the Day

Fast Facts

Medical Freedom Alert

Health News and Commentary

The AIDS Debate: The Most Controversial Story You’ve Never Heard (Part 2) by Liam Scheff

Self-Care Tips for Preventing and Managing Hyperthryoidism

The Power of A Human Spirit - A Tribute to My Sister Andrea (Part 13)

Reader Feedback: A Message from June Russell

Recommendations

Unabashed Plug

Both Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble online are offering my newest book, Health on the Edge: Visionary Views of Healing in the New Millennium at a healthy discount. To order it, visit either http://www.amazon.com (which gave it 5 stars, its highest rating) or http://www.bn.com (Barnes and Noble). Simply type in the title or my name on their homepages and you’ll find it. Please tell others about it, too, because the information and self-care exercises it contains are important, and it’s the first book of its kind to contain such a range of topics related to the future of health and healing.

What’s New (An Interesting Healer and I’m Back on the Radio)

Last week I had the pleasure of speaking Dr. Robert Friedman, who in addition to being a physician, is also a medical intuitive and energy healer who works with clients worldwide over the phone. After my initial phone session with him, I came away impressed with his abilities and will continue to work with him over the next few weeks. In the meantime, I encourage those of you interested in energy medicine to take advantage of Dr. Friedman’s f/r/e/e ph/one consultation. To find out more, please visit his website: http://www.drrobert.com. Or you can email him at drrobert@acun.com. Let him know I sent you.

This weekend, I will be on the radio again. On Saturday, Februrary 21, at 9 a.m. Eastern, I will be the featured guest on the Temple of Health radio show, out of Atlanta, GA (WGUN 1010 AM), and the following, and on Sunday, February 22, at 9 a.m. Pacific time, I will be the guest of Raymond Francis, host of the Beyond Health Show in San Francisco (for more information, visit www.beyondhealth.com.) I encourage my readers in both regions to tune in, as I will be sharing information related to my latest book (see the Unabashed Plug above) and taking callers’ questions.

This issue continues a multipart series by investigative journalist Liam Scheff on the subject of AIDS and HIV that calls into question the widely accepted hypothesis that HIV=AIDS.

Also in this issue is information on treating and preventing hyperthyroidsim. Plus more of my tribute to my sister Andrea.

Please continue to send me your comments and suggestions. In particular, let me know what you would like to see me continue doing with this newsletter, as well as things you would like to see me start. Also, let me know what, if anything, you would like to see me discontinue. You can email me at larry@1healthyworld.com.

And please spread the word about The Health Plus Letter by passing it along to your friends and inviting them to subscribe.

Quote Of The Day

“Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?”

- T.S. Eliot

Fast Fact

“The FDA [Food and Drug Administration] has frequently been exposed as a virtual revolving door with the drug industry. Agency commissioners and officials routinely have come from or departed to the industry they were entrusted to regulate.”

- Kenny Ausubel, When Healing Becomes a Crime

Unabashed Plug

Dr. Garry Gordon’s entire line of nutritional products are available for purchase directly from 1HealthyWorld.com. Dr. Gordon is a member of 1HealthyWorld’s Medical Advisory Board, and an internationally acclaimed expert in the areas of cardiovascular health, anti-aging medicine, and the use of nutritional medicine to prevent and reverse chronic disease. He is also one of the most accomplished and knowledgeable physicians it’s ever been my privilege to meet, and the nutritional products he’s developed reflect his expertise. You can order his products by visiting http://www.1healthyworld.com/healthproducts/garrygordon

Medical Freedom Alert

Please do your part to ensure that the misleadingly named “Dietary Safety Supplement” Act (S. 722) is defeated. To become informed about S. 722 and to take action to help defeat its passage, please visit: http://capwiz.com/nnfa/S722.html

To stay informed of other developments related to medical freedom, please visit http://www4.dr-rath-foundation.org the website of Dr. Mattias Rath, a leading crusader for medical freedom.

Health News and Commentary

Antioxidant Use Found to Reduce Asthma Risk in Children

A newly released study conducted by researchers at Cornell University has found that children (ages 4-16 in the study, which involved over 6,000 participants) with high antioxidant levels of beta carotene, vitamin C, and/or selenium, had significantly reduced risk of developing asthma. “The reduction in asthma prevalence proved most dramatic among children exposed to secondhand smoke,” the researchers noted. In the U.S., asthma is the most common serious health condition for children 18 and under, affecting over 6 million children.

For more on this story, see: http://snipurl.com/4ilj

[Comment: This study simply confirms something holistic physicians have pointed out for years. While antioxidant supplementation can be helpful for preventing and managing asthma, as well as other respiratory conditions, it’s also important to deal with the various other factors that can also trigger the condition, including emotional stress.]

CT Scans Found to Increase Cancer Risk

According to a recent international study conducted by researchers at Oxford University, CT 3.2 percent of patients with cancer in Japan developed their disease due to radiation exposure from CT scans. The researchers noted that Japan employs CT scans more frequently than any other country; in the U.S., 0.9 percent of cancers were found to be caused by CT scans, while in England, the figure was 0.6 percent.

Although CT scans have made it easier to detect cancers at an early stage, and to diagnose cerebral hemorrhages and broken legs, “some hospitals have sought to use the method as frequently as possible to collect more medical fees from patients.”

(Source: “Study links CT scans to hiked cancer rates.” Yomiuri Shimbun (Japan), Feb. 9, 2004.)

[Comment: Researcher John W. Gofman, M.D., Ph.D., has long maintained that radiation exposure from X-rays, CT scans, etc., has been a significant cause of the increased cancer rates that have occurred since the technology became commonplace last century. To find out more about his research, visit http://www.ratical.org/radiation/CNR, the website of the Committee for Nuclear Responsibility, Inc.]

The AIDS Debate: The Most Controversial Story You’ve Ne/ver Heard (Part 2) by Liam Scheff

[Note: This article was originally published May, 2003, in Boston’s Weekly Dig. I feel the information it contains is very important and so I am reprinting it with its author’s express permission. I have long been aware of and accept the basic premise expressed by the scientists Liam interviews below and wish to help share it with a wider audience. To read Part 1, see last issue, which is available at http://www.1healthyworld.com/ezine/vol2no5.cfm I also urge you to read Liam’s most recent reporting from the AIDS front, which can be found at http://www.altheal.org/toxicity/house.htm and http://www.altheal.org/toxicity/nurse.htm.

You said Gallo used a T-cell line to grow HIV. Isn’t HIV supposed to kill T-cells?

Richards: That’s what Gallo initially claimed, but Abbot labs grows its HIV in human T-cells. It’s even called an immortal cell line, because the leukemia cells don’t die. To date, no researcher has demonstrated how HIV kills T-cells. It's just a theory that keeps money flowing into the pharmaceutical approach to treating AIDS.

Rasnick: Gallo patented the leukemia T-cell mixture the very same day he announced he’d found the “probable cause” of AIDS.

What do HIV tests do?

Rasnick: They look for antibodies in your blood to proteins that are taken out of this mixture. Your body produces antibodies as a response to all foreign material – germs,yeasts, viruses, even the food you eat. Viruses are DNA or RNA wrapped in protein building blocks. Antibodies grab onto these proteins, immobilizing and destroying the virus. When these antibodies encounter different viral proteins in the future, they‘ll very often grab onto them, too. This is called cross-reactivity.

Duesberg: Viruses are only dangerous the first time you encounter them. Once you’ve made antibodies to a virus, you have immunity for the rest of your life, and the virus can’t get you sick anymore. This is the opposite of HIV theory, which states: You become infected; you don‘t get sick; you make antibodies; and 10 years later, you get sick and die.

Rasnick: There are two common HIV antibody tests. One is the Elisa, in which a bunch of proteins from the T-cell mixture are stuck in a series of little plastic wells on a test plate. The other is called Western Blot. In this test, the proteins are separated onto individual paper strips. Your blood is added, and if antibodies from your blood stick to proteins from this mixture, you’re said to be HIV positive.

They’re assuming the proteins are from HIV; but they never isolated HIV, so how can they say these tests can diagnose HIV-infection?

Rasnick: They can’t, and they don't. None of the proteins in the Elisa and Western Blot tests have been proven to be specific to HIV or any retrovirus. For this reason the FDA has not approved a single test for diagnosing HIV-infection.

Richards: There are at least 30 tests marketed to test for HIV. None of them are approved by the FDA to diagnose the presence or absence of HIV. Not the Elisa, not viral load, not Western Blot, not the P24 antigen test. The FDA and manufacturers clearly state that the significance of testing positive on the Elisa and Western Blot test is unknown.

AIDS researchers admit that the tests contain at least 80 percent non-specific cellular material – they’re, at best, 20 percent effective. But in my scientific opinion, they contain no HIV at all. The medical literature lists at least 60 different conditions that can register positive on the HIV-test. These conditions include candidas, arthritis, parasites, malaria, liver conditions, alcoholism, drug abuse, flu, herpes, syphilis, other STDs and pregnancy.

[HIV Test Labels: “At present there is no recognized standard for establishing the presence or absence of HIV-1 antibody in human blood.” (Abbot Laboratories HIV Test - ElA) -“The risk of an asymptomatic person with a repeatedly reactive serum developing AIDS or an AIDS-related condition is not known.” (Genetic Systems HIV Test - Peptide EIA)-“The Amplicor HIV-1 Monitor test is not intended to be used as a screening test for HIV or as a diagnostic test to confirm the presence of HIV infection” (Roche, Amplicor HIV Test – PCR).-“Do not use this kit as the sole basis of diagnosis of HIV-1 infection.”(Epitope, Inc. HIV Test - Western Blot)]

Rasnick: It’s very simple to see how you can get false positives. Antibodies cross-react. The more viruses and germs you’re exposed to, the more antibodies you’ll produce, the greater risk you’ll test positive on a non-specific antibody test. If you live in a country without clean water or sanitary living conditions, you're going to have constant microbial and parasitic infections that produce antibodies.

You carry antibodies to all the colds, flus, viruses and vaccinations you’ve ever had. If you’re pregnant, you’re producing antibodies that will react with Abbot’s Elisa test. Pregnancy is a known cause of false positives on the HIV test.

Different races have different ranges of naturally-occurring antibodies. That’s why blacks have a nine times greater chance of testing positive than white Europeans, and a 33 times greater chance than Asians. It doesn’t have anything to do with infection or health. In one study, a tribe of South American Indians was given Elisa tests. Thirteen percent of them tested HIV-positive, but nobody was sick. They just had antibodies that reacted with the test.

If the tests aren't specific, and we can't find HIV in the blood, then what is AIDS?

Richards: According to the CDC, AIDS works like a formula: If you have an AIDS-indicator disease like salmonella, tuberculoses, pneumonia, herpes, or a yeast infection, and you test HIV-positive, then you‘re said to have AIDS, and you’re treated with toxic AIDS drugs. If you test negative or don't know your HIV status, you’re spared the toxic drugs and simply treated for the disease you have.

In 1993 the CDC expanded their definition of AIDS to include people who are not sick at all but who test positive and have a one-time T-cell count under 200. Based on this new criteria, by 1997, about 2/3 of all AIDS cases were perfectly healthy people. As it happens, ‘97 was the last year the CDC told us how many people were healthy and how many were sick. Now they just count everyone who's HIV-positive as an AIDS patient, whether they’re sick or not.

Let me clarify this. When people die of AIDS, they actually die of a known disease. But if their blood reacts with an HIV-antibody test, they’re no longer said to have the disease, they’re said to have AIDS?

Rasnick: That’s how it works. And the sick people who test HIV-positive are put on the most toxic drugs ever manufactured and sold.

What about AIDS in Africa?

Rasnick: It's the same story, even worse. Fifty percent of Africans have no sewage systems. Their drinking water mixes with animal and human waste. They have constant TB and malaria infections, the symptoms of which are diarrhea and weight loss, the very same criteria UNAIDS and the World Health Organization use to diagnose AIDS in Africa.

These people need clean drinking water and treated mosquito nets [mosquitoes carry malaria], not condoms and lectures and deadly pharmaceuticals forced on pregnant mothers.

We’ve put 20 years and $118 billion into HIV. We’ve got no cure, no vaccine and no progress. Instead we have thousands of people made sick and even killed by toxic AIDS drugs. But we can’t just treat them for the diseases we know they have because if we do, we’re called “AIDS denialists.” Treating them for the diseases they actually have would be more humane and effective than forcing toxic drugs down their throats, and it would also save billions of tax dollars. AIDS is a multi-billion dollar industry. There are 100,000 professional AIDS researchers in this country. It's as hard to challenge as big tobacco at this point.

What does Luc Montagnier say about this?

Rasnick: In 1990 at the San Francisco AIDS conference, Montagnier announced that HIV did not, after all, kill T-cells and could not be the cause of AIDS. Within hours of making this announcement, he was attacked by the very industry he’d helped to create. Montagnier's not a liar. He's a so-so scientist who’s in over his head.

Afterword:

In a 1997 interview, Luc Montagnier spoke about his isolation of HIV. He said, “We did not purify [isolate] ... We saw some particles but they did not have the morphology [shape] typical of retroviruses ... They were very different … What we did not have, as I have always recognized it, is that it was truly the cause of AIDS.”

Robert Gallo hasn’t made such large concessions. He has, however, amended his AIDS death sentence. He now believes that it’s possible to live with HIV “for 30 years until you die of old age,” as long as you live a healthy lifestyle and avoid immune-compromising substances.

In 1994 Gallo quietly announced that the major AIDS defining illness in gay men – Kaposi’s Sarcoma, could not be explained by HIV but that nitrite poppers, a drug that had been popular in the gay community, “could be the primary cause.” Somehow, this didn’t make headlines.

Gallo also said that Peter Duesberg’s research into a drug-based AIDS model should be funded. Duesberg’s funding has all but evaporated since he publicly challenged the HIV/AIDS model.

Dr. Duesberg and Rasnick’s articles can be found at: http://www.duesberg.com and http://www.virusmyth.net

Next week: Who were the first AIDS patients; who’s getting sick now; and what do AIDS drugs really do?

Self-Care Tips for Preventing and Managing Hyperthyroidism (Overproduction of thyroid hormone by the thyroid gland.)

Symptoms: There are many forms of overactive thyroid, but the symptoms are similar for all of them. Rapid heartbeat, enlarged thyroid (goiter), moist skin, trembling (tremors), widened pulse pressure (lower- and higher-end numbers), fatigue, anxiety, weight loss, bulging eyes, excessive sweating, increased appetite, extremely low tolerance to heat, diarrhea, chest pain, and gastrointestinal disturbances. In older persons with this condition, the symptoms may be the opposite.

Occurrence: Much more rare than underactive thyroid (hypothyroidism- see last issue of The Health Plus Letter).

Special Notes: Hyperthyroidism may be associated with and often is called Graves’ disease (toxic diffuse goiter)—hyperthyroidism combined with enlarged thyroid, eyes that bulge, rash and swelling in front of the lower leg that may appear before or after the condition, or thyrotoxicosis.

The thyroid is a “master” gland, meaning that it is influential on the overall health of most of the cells of the body. The thyroid gland sits at the base of the neck and consists of two lobes, one on each side of the windpipe (trachea). The thyroid is a gland that combines and concentrates iodine with tyrosine into active thyroid hormone. These reactions are controlled and influenced by the pituitary gland. The thyroid gland has many effects on all the cells of the body. The two major ones are to help form protein RNA (building blocks of life) for every cell and to increase oxygen consumption by most cells. Thus, the thyroid greatly effects overall body metabolism.

Self-Care

Diet: Whole foods diet. Eat foods that naturally and gently suppress thyroid hormone production (broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, kale, mustard greens, rutabagas, spinach, turnips, soybeans, peaches, and pears). Avoid dairy products, excessive and repetitive consumption of wheat products, coffee, tea, and caffeinated soft drinks.

Nutritional Therapy: 1) High dosages of vitamin A and choline (under a doctor’s supervision) 2) Vitamin B complex with extra thiamine (vitamin B1) and amino acid supplements, both three times daily as increased metabolism raises demand 3) Multivitamin/mineral complex 4) Vitamin C 5) Iodine or kelp 6) Calcium 7) Magnesium (Note: a qualified practitioner or orthomolecular physician should be consulted to most effectively treat hyperthyroidism using nutritional supplementation.)

Hydrotherapy: Ice packs (apply repeatedly as needed to reduce thyroid function).

Juice Therapy: 1) Carrot, celery, spinach, parsley 2) Cabbage, watercress, and spinach.

Professional Care: The following therapies should only be provided by a qualified health professional-magnetic field therapy, naturopathic medicine, traditional Chinese medicine, homeopathy.

Note: The information above was adapted from Alternative Medicine: The Definitive Guide, 2^nd Edition, co-authored and edited by Larry Trivieri, Jr. (Celestial Arts, 2002).

Unabashed Plug

Learn the Truth about Heart Disease, Stroke and Hypertension. Most of what conventional medicine has to offer for treating these conditions is based on faulty and potentially dangerous assumptions. Discover the real causes behind these diseases and learn what you can do today to prevent and reverse them using safe and natural alternatives that have been scientifically proven to be effective. Read the critically-acclaimed eBook Burton Goldberg’s Definitive Guide to Heart Disease, featuring the contributions of Dr. Garry Gordon, Dr. Stephen Sinatra, and many other leading heart specialists. To order or to find out more about this potentially lifesaving guide, visit

http://www.1healthyworld.com/ebooks/Heart-Book-Info.cfm.

The Power of A Human Spirit - A Tribute to My Sister Andrea (Part 13)

[The first 12 parts of this article appeared in issues 14, 15, 17, 18, 19, 20 and 21 of Volume 1, and issues 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 of Volume 2 of The Health Plus Letter, all of which are archived at http://www.1healthyworld.com/ezine.]

Last March, most of my family and I went to celebrate Andrea’s final birthday. By now, she had moved into a high-rise apartment in Jersey City, N.J., to save on rent due to her medical costs (her medical bills totalled over $1 mil/lion dollars are the time of her passing; thankfully, much of this was paid for by her health insurance). Situated next to a PATH train station, her new abode allowed her fast an easy access into Manhattan and offered her a spectacular view of the city’s skyline.

I drove down with my mother and my brother Michael. Given how weak Andrea had appeared when last we saw her a month before, we wondered how up she would be for her party. As usual, Andrea had a surprise in store for us. For when we arrived, joined by the rest of my siblings and their families, we were astonished to find her looking vibrantly healthy, happy to see us, and eager to introduce us to the many friends she had made since moving to New York City. Many of them also had cancer and, like Andrea, exhibited the same heroic, positive outlook about their situation. Both of Andrea’s children were also in attendance, Alyssa having flown home from Paris expressly to be there, proudly showing off her command of French to my mother, who also speaks it fluently.

The day passed all too quickly, filled as it was with an outpouring of love for Andrea, lots of laughter, and delicious food (Andrea never gave a party that wasn’t also a epicurean delight!). And as I got to meet and speak with all of her friends, invariably they would tel me the same thing. “Your sister is so wonderful! I don’t know what I would do without her!” Then they would tell me of all the times when Andrea had lifted their spirits with a call or visit, allaying their fears and getting them to laugh when the woes of their illness seemed insurmountable. With the exception of Joyce and Robin, Andrea’s long-time friends from college, none of them had known Andrea two years earlier, yet now she and they were fast friends, each a vital part of the support network she had forged for herself and them. I shall always be grateful for the love and support each of them gave her.

At last, her gifts presented and her birthday songs sung, it was time for Andrea’s birthday cake. When she blew out the candles - all 45 of them with a single breath - everyone in the room knew what her wish was and I know that everyone, in their own way, fervently prayed that it would come true. Given how healthy and energetic she was that day, I truly believed that it would.

That evening, after her friends had all left, Andrea insisted on staying up late to spend more time with us, especially delighting in the company of our younger nieces, all of whom always adored her. By time I returned to the nearby hotel in which my family all stayed, my spirits were buoyant beyond anything I could have imagined that morning when I made the drive to see her. Once again, I marveled at her strength and resiliency.

The next day, as Mike, my Mom and I drove home following another visit with Andrea, I said, “I really think she’s going to make it.” Mike agreed that she certainly looked much improved. My Mom simply smiled. In retrospect, I realize she kept silent because she didn’t want to dash my newfound hopes. For she knew, as only a mother can know the future of her child, that we had celebrated Andrea’s last birthday with her.

[Continued next issue.]

Unabashed Plug

Discover and Gain Control of Your Human Energy Field. Read Dr. Valerie Hunt’s Mind Mastery Meditations: A Workbook for the “Infinite Mind,” the empowering guide created by one of the world's foremost researchers into the human energy field, energy medicine, and the relationship between consciousness and health. Each of the meditations this eBook contains is designed to give you mastery of your mind and to empower you to discover the answers to why you are the way you are, your soul's needs, your unique talents and capacities, and your self-designed destiny. By practicing and mastering these meditations, you will become able to live your life with greater ease and success, speed your self-healing, and dramatically increase your ability to manifest your deepest goals. To order this life-changing guide, visit

http://www.1healthyworld.com/ebooks/Mind-Mastery-Book-Info.cfm.

Reader Feedback (A Message from June Russell)

This is a letter to the editor sent by June Russell to various newspapers in her home state of Virginia, which she also asked me to share with you. I’m happy to do so. The points she makes are both important and usually ignored by the media.

“Those individuals who are upset about the possible deception in the war in Iraq should be equally distressed about the deceptive media reporting on health issues - issues that directly affect them. We are now experiencing the triumphing of ‘marketing over science,’or science by ‘press release,’ and a majority of Americans mistakenly depend on the news media to tell them what is healthy and what is not. Health reports and studies are regularly influenced by politics, monetary gain, and the need for sensationalism, resulting in important facts being obscured in order to produce a desired outcome. Few individuals - including health professionals - examine the actual facts in the health news to get at the truth. The news media often slant the news, omit important facts, hype trivia, and use the fear factor to increase ratings and sell products. This causes many Americans to dismiss therapies that would be in their best interest and they turn to those that are more harmful and toxic.

"Seventy percent of the trials in major medical journals are funded by the drug industry, but when the media announces published studies from medical journals we accept it as truth and rarely question the announced outcome. Being told that the study was a large, double-blind, placebo controlled, randomized clinical trial, convinces many of us that it must be accurate. However, even those studies are subject to er/ror, for the researchers only have to use an inadequate dose of the substance being tested, lessen the time frame, omit important risk factors or use test subjects who have variables that influence the results.

"With the available health web sites, books, magazines, etc., it is possible to examine the facts, determine the truth in the media reports and decide what is in our best interest before - not after - acting on the information from a news story.

June Russell - www.jrussellshealth.com”

I couldn’t agree more, June. Thanks!

Recommendations

Website:

http://www.healthylife.net- At this site, you can access audio interviews with a variety of health experts conducted by Linda McKenzie, host of the Creative Health and Spirit radio show. I will be Linda’s guest on April 2 of this year.

Book:

The Music of the Spheres by Elizabeth Redfern. I enjoyed this tale of espiona