Posted February 20, 2004:

►February 21, 2004 - Anthrax shots made troops sick - www.abc.com.au - "THE SAS and other Australian forces sent to Afghanistan to fight the Taliban suffered severe side effects from the anthrax vaccine, according to confidential Defence documents...The documents also reveal that 97 crew aboard HMAS Darwin in the Gulf last year reported ill after being given the controversial vaccine...Only a year earlier, the temporary side effects of the anthrax vaccine among troops bound for Afghanistan were so severe that the entire vaccination program for the 1550-strong deployment was suspended for two months...However, the Howard Government did not disclose this to the troops bound for Iraq last year, who were also required to have the anthrax vaccination."

Comment:  Will our media report this critically important news?

►February 20, 2004 - The Meningitis Debate - More states are encouraging vaccines for students, despite objections from some campus health officials - The Chronicle Of Higher Education - "He learned that the disease is spread through saliva and can be transmitted through coughing, sneezing, shared drinks, or any other form of close contact. Most people who become infected, however, don't contract meningitis and aren't even aware that they are carriers. He also discovered that there is a vaccine that might have prevented him from catching the disease...On the surface, the meningitis laws are the swift product of grass-roots efforts to protect college students from a fatal disease. But many college health officials are questioning whether the laws are necessary. These officials argue that legislators have acted irrationally in response to lobbying efforts by pharmaceutical companies and emotional appeals from small groups of advocates."

►February 18, 2004 - Turkmenistan: National immunisation programme proceeding well - The aim of the campaign is to reach 95 percent of the population - IRIN

►February 18, 2004 - Supervisors cut public health - 10,000 across county to see cuts to services - Record Searchlight via www.redding.com

►February 18, 2004 - This winter's flu season turns out to be moderately severe despite early vaccinations - AP via Alaska Journal of Commerce

►February 18, 2004 - Hygiene concern at GP's practice - An inquiry has been launched into how unsterilised equipment was used for internal medical examinations on women. - BBC

►February 18, 2004 - County Spreads Rabies Vaccine For Varmints - The Tampa Tribune

►February 19, 2004 - Diabetes straining Fiji health system - www.abc.net.au

►February 17, 2004 - Unraveling Mad Cow Disease - In the Rockies, Researchers Chip Away at Enigmatic Illness - www.npr.org

►February 18, 2004 - Professor Studies Asthma, Antioxidants - Cornell Daily Sun

►February 19, 2004 - Mad Cow remains mystery, scientist tells Missoula crowd - www.missoulian.com

►February 18, 2004 - Burlington students put their hearts into Lahey calendar - Burlington Union via www.townonline.com - It is estimated that about 1-in-5 males and females are living with a form of cardiovascular disease: high blood pressure, coronary heart disease, congestive heart failure, stroke or congenital cardiovascular defects. And a report in the journal Circulation shows that as the baby boom generation grows older, the incidence of these chronic diseases is expected to rise.

►February 18, 2004 - Elan to submit Antegren for FDA license mid-yr; FY total revenues fall - AFX via www.sharewatch.com

►February 18, 2004 - Prometheus Laboratories to Present at Smith Barney Specialty Pharmaceutical Conference - PRNewswire via http://interestalert.com

►February 18, 2004 - Scientists Confirm Healthfulness of Pasta as Good Carbohydrate - PRNewswire via http://interestalert.com

►February 18, 2004 - Argentina: HIV/AIDS Transmission: Argentina IDUs Have High HIV Rate - AIDS Weekly via  www.aegis.org

►February 19, 2004 - Yoga Good for the Young Too - The New Straits Times via Healthy News - "Children with Down's Syndrome, cerebral palsy, autism, attention deficit disorder and learning disabilities can enjoy the benefits of yoga."

►February 18, 2004 - Educating Kasey - An angel among us - seeking special program for girl with Angelman's syndrome - Braintree Forum via www.townonline.com

►February 18, 2004 - A soldier's grim homecoming - Questions: A World War II veteran wonders if Iraq played a part in the apparent suicide of his grandson, Spc. Jeremy S. Seeley. - The Baltimore Sun - "Ray Seeley, a hale 78, has heard about the suicides of those who served in Operation Iraqi Freedom. To some, his grandson's death fits a disturbing pattern of soldiers making it out of Iraq only to die after coming home...The Army says 21 soldiers have killed themselves in Iraq or Kuwait since the war began last March, a rate officials concede is higher than that in the overall Army population. But the figure does not include nearly 70 suicides in the United States after a tour in Iraq, according to the National Gulf War Resource Center, a veterans advocacy group."

►February 18, 2004 - SPED parents meet with legislators - State reps highlight importance of early intervention - Georgetown Record via www.townonline.com

►February 17, 2004 - the allergy riddle ; It's a modern plague - but why DO so many suffer? In this provocative analysis, one writer offers his own uncomfortable explanation - Daily Mail, London via http://i-medreview.subportal.com - "THIS is a plague like no other. By 2015, half of the population may be afflicted...Thirty years ago these conditions were rare, so something must have changed dramatically in our lifestyle or environment. But the figures suggest there is no single underlying cause...But are we really to believe that half the country will be allergic in a few years' time?..Maybe GPs' waiting rooms will, indeed, be full of allergy sufferers. But then again, they might just be full of those who are suffering from the oldest illness in the medical dictionary: hypochondria."

►February 17, 2004 - Parents reroute efforts to get their son's test - A Lecanto teacher says she and her husband dropped their FCAT lawsuit but will work to reform state law. - St. Petersburg Times - "In October, Castillo and her husband, Joseph, who live in Brooksville, filed a legal action seeking the release of her son's results on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test. Since her son Jordan is autistic and children with autism have trouble with language, Castillo argued that in order to help her son improve his score, she needed to know what he was asked and how he answered...A month after the lawsuit was filed, Department of Education officials told the Castillos that the department would not release the test and that, if the Castillos didn't drop their lawsuit by this week, they could be ordered to pay the state's legal fees."

►February 18, 2004 - Meanwhile: Echoes of panic over global disease - International Herald Tribune - "These 1838 remarks might cause us to ask whether in the age of SARS and bird flu alarms it is not time to subject the statements of certain virologists, headline writers and health bureaucracies to critical analysis by those trained in other disciplines."

Comment: Interesting article.

►February 17, 2004 - German Scientists to Test HIV Vaccine on Humans - Scientists in Germany are for the first time preparing to conduct human trials on a new vaccine designed to prevent HIV infection as well as slow the spread of AIDS in the developing world. - Deutsche Welle 

►February 15, 2004 - Advances in equine cloning may aid insight into human diseases - American Association for the Advancement of Science via www.eurekalert.org 

►February 12, 2004 - Breastfed Baby Exposed to Smallpox Vaccine Virus - Reuters via Yahoo! News 

►February 18, 2004 - New Test Could Fine-Tune Antibiotic Use - AP via The Herald-Sun - "A blood test could help doctors determine whether antibiotics are needed for common respiratory infections and may reduce the over-prescribing that creates drug-resistant germs, new research suggests...About 75 percent of all antibiotics are given for lower respiratory tract infections such as bronchitis and pneumonia. Most of these infections are caused by a virus, not bacteria. Experts say antibiotics are not only useless against viral infections, but also help bacteria evolve defenses against drugs." 

►February 18, 2004 - Post Office Could Deliver Urgent Medicine - AP via The Herald-Sun 

►February 19, 2004 - Pfizer Cuts Supplies to Canadian Drugstores - Sales Are Halted To Reimporters Of Bargain Drugs (requires registration) - Washington Post 

►February 19, 2004 - FDA Looks to Chips to Thwart Drug Counterfeiters -  Voluntary Plan Envisions Manufacturers Adopting Electronic Track-and-Trace Technology by 2007 (requires registration) - Washington Post 

►February 17, 2004 - Evaluations: Routine Heart Tests Challenged - The New York Times - "Three of the most common screening tests for heart disease should not be used unless the patients have known risk factors or symptoms, according to a statement released yesterday by the government panel responsible for reviewing research on preventive medicine...The panel, the Preventive Services Task Force, concluded that problems associated with the procedures — electrocardiograms, stress tests and scans for calcium buildups in arteries — clearly outweigh their benefit. The statement was published in The Annals of Internal Medicine."

►February 17, 2004 - Mass Vaccination Not Needed to Contain Smallpox Outbreak, Researchers Say - Nuclear Threat Initiative - "Conducting a mass vaccination against smallpox in the United States could save some lives in the event of an outbreak, but the risks of vaccine side effects would outweigh most benefits, researchers announced Friday (see GSN, Jan. 30)."

►February 13, 2004 - FDA boss rumored to be in line for new post - San Diego Union-Tribune via SignOnSanDiego.com - "The head of the Food and Drug Administration, who has been on the job for a little over a year, appears to be the Bush administration's front-runner to lead the agency that runs Medicare...The speculation is being met with mixed emotions by many in the drug industry who recall waiting about two years for President Bush to fill the FDA post...During that leaderless period, drug companies complained bitterly that the lack of FDA leadership resulted in slower approval times for experimental drugs and unexpected rejections of some new drug applications."

►February 11, 2004 - Exacerbation of Motor Neuron Disease by Chronic Stimulation of Innate Immunity in a Mouse Model of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis - journal article (Journal of Neuroscience) (abstract) 

►January 29, 2004 - 'Look away when I speak to you' - For years, parents and teachers have ordered children to 'look at me when I'm speaking to you'. - BBC News - "Children who dared turn away were accused of being rude or of failing to pay attention...But now a report suggests that rather than being rude, children turn away to help them think...What's more, they probably pick up the habit from adults, says psychologist Dr Gwyneth Doherty-Sneddon from Stirling University in Scotland."

►February 19, 2004 - Expert delivers anti-tobacco message - Pocono Record

►February 19, 2004 - Imperfect flu vaccine leaves expert uncertain (requires registration) - Minneapolis - St. Paul Star Tribune - "This winter's flu season turned out to be only moderately severe despite an early start and a vaccine that didn't include the strain that caused most illness, according to government data presented Wednesday...Preliminary results of a CDC study of 50- to 64-year-olds in Colorado found those at particularly high risk from influenza got little if any protection. But a study of the families of 114 Air Force personnel who caught the flu suggests the vaccine was 40 percent effective."

►February 19, 2004 - New jags call in mumps outbreak - Daily Record, UK - "CASES of mumps are soaring in Scotland, it was revealed yesterday...Since December, 49 cases have been confirmed, compared with only 26 for the whole of last year."

►February 19, 2004 - Call for action over smear tests scare GP - The Herald, UK

►February 19, 2004 - Smear Test Scandal - Doc under fire after dirty equipment put hundreds of women at risk of HIV virus - Daily Record, UK

►February 19, 2004 - All prepared if bird flu strikes - The Straits Times

►February 19, 2004 - Yamaguchi safe after bird flu outbreak - Japan Today

►February 18, 2004 -  Avian flu claims two more lives, sparks more warnings - Center for Infectious Disease Research & Policy

►February 18, 2004 - Another Area Meningitis Death - 6 Action News, WPVI.com

►2004 -Casey kids got it covered - www.senews.com.au

►February 18, 2004 - Researchers Study Long-Term AIDS Drugs Use - UPI via COMTEX via www.wtopnews.com - "A decade ago a diagnosis of HIV, which causes AIDS, meant a life expectancy of about two years. Now highly effective drug cocktails are keeping people alive far longer and doing it so well researchers are looking at the side effects long-term use of these medications may create."

Comment:  If HIV really has nothing to do with AIDS, and people are being given these highly toxic "AIDS" drugs prior to developing any symptoms (based solely on the presence of HIV in their blood), what, then, of the side effects?  Is ignorance an excuse?

►February 19, 2004 - Admn readies to tackle measles cases - Times of India

►February 18, 2004 - Serologicals Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2003 Results; Revenues up 68% and Pro Forma Net Income up 166% - Serologicals Corporation via Business Wire

►February 18, 2004 - City Reports Hepatitis Outbreak - Health Department Reports 17 Confirmed Cases In 2004 - AP via www.thebostonchannel.com

►February 18, 2004 - KUMC Researcher Publishes Key Finding - University of Kansas Medical Center - "A researcher at the University of Kansas School of Medicine has published findings that could lead to more precise treatment for Hepatitis C, the country's most chronic liver disease."

►February 18, 2004 - Report finds inactivated influenza virus vaccines effective in children - Infectious Diseases Society of America via www.eurekalert.org - "Every winter inevitably brings with it the flu season, but kids don't inevitably have to contract the flu, according to an article in the March 1 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases, now available online. The report, which reviews the results of multiple studies on the effects of influenza vaccine on children, indicates that 'killed' influenza vaccine is a safe and effective method to reduce the rate of influenza in children as young as 6 months old."

Comment:  This is the study listed yesterday which was paid for by Aventis Pasteur, an influenza vaccine producer.

►February 18, 2004 - Avian Influenza Update - Delmarva 47 News

►February 19, 2004 - Two groups file mercury poisoning suit against EPA - www.2theadvocate.com

►February 19, 2004 - Russian 'Vector' lab probes secrets of smallpox - Reuters AlertNet - "It was one of the world's most deadly plagues, and some fear it might again be unleashed on mankind if bio-terrorists could get their hands on the virus...A quarter of a century after the last known case of smallpox, scientists at a heavily-guarded installation called Vector, deep in Siberia, are still conducting research on 120 strains of the virus...Responsibility for safeguarding the stockpiles lies with men like Sergei Netesov, Vector's deputy general director."

►February 18, 2004 - U.S. Experts Struggle with Flu Vaccine Questions - Reuters Health via Yahoo! - "Various studies show the vaccine had effectiveness ranging from none at all to 60 percent -- statistics that confounded experts trying to decide how best to protect the public from the highly contagious virus...'It's hard to make sense of it,' Dr. Bruce Gellin, director of the Health and Human Service Department's National Vaccine Program Office, told reporters...'We really need to have a system in place year to year that tracks the efficacy of the vaccine.'"

►February 18, 2004 - Baylor develops lung cancer vaccine - Dallas Business Journal

►February 19, 2004 - Government isn't sure how good the flu vaccine was - AP via www.kesq.com

►February 18, 2004 - Vical Announces Webcast of CEO Presentation on Vaccine Panel At BIO CEO & Investor Conference - press release - Vical via PRNewswire-FirstCall via Yahoo!

►February 18, 2004 - Officials Hope Next Flu Vaccine Works Better - Flu Vaccine to Change -- but No Bird Flu Protection Yet - WebMD - "Even in a good year -- when the flu vaccine is a perfect match with the flu virus that actually circulates -- the vaccine is not 100% effective. In such years, the flu vaccine offers 70% to 90% protection. Healthy adults get the best protection, while the elderly and children vaccinated for the first time usually get somewhat less protection."

►February 16, 2004 - More patients with liver disease competing for fewer organs - Alcohol: A National Excuse - The Scotsman

►February 16, 2004 - Hepatitis cure for HIV victims found - The Border Mail