If Congress passes a bill that denies us the choice of a public insurance plan, Big Insurance wins and you lose. If Congress requires you to buy insurance but doesn’t prevent Big Insurance from denying you care when you get sick or revoking your coverage when you need it, they win and you lose.1

But we can fight back. Today, TrueMajority/USAction members and affiliates are among the thousands of people lined up outside insurance company offices to demand that they stop denying our care and stop using our premiums to lobby against healthcare reform.

A: Order only from sites that carry the VIPPS seal, indicating that they are Verified Internet Pharmacy Practice Sites. Most major national chains, such as CVS and Walgreens, carry this seal. All these sites ship medicines requiring refrigeration on a rush basis, with cold packs to keep them at the right temperature. This is the same way drugs are shipped to pharmacies by wholesalers and manufacturers.

Verified sites also require that someone be home to receive and sign for the refrigerated package — this ensures that the medication will not sit outdoors and get too warm.

If you are in doubt, check the shipping information listed on the Web site or call to confirm the shipping methods.

Our inside source: Maria Marzella Sulli, PharmD, associated clinical professor, St. John’s University College of Pharmacy and Allied Health Professions, Queens, New York.

“WHO’s NEXT”

Our economy balances precariously on barrels of oil. Our military, plastics, and automotive industry depend on a constant and inexpensive supply. Our shopping malls, restaurants, factories and office buildings rely on it to transport customers and employees to and fro. The dollar itself depends upon oil. Our currency currently holds favored status in the world. One of the main reasons is that it is the only currency used for the trade of oil. Iraq was about to allow its vast oil reserves to be bought with euros instead of dollars setting a dangerous example for the rest of the oil producing countries. American invasion and occupation quickly saw to that danger. Now, with precedent set the only question is: who’s next?

Al

Grace, all of those yoga poses will bring blood flow to your face, and it’s all about blood flow (for any body part). Try accupressure when you’re washing your face or applying moisturizer, press along brow line, on either side of nose, along laugh lines, and definitely along chin line and press hard and hold for a count of 3 at least, I do this 2x’s a week, but it’s best to do it am and pm, I just run short on time with everythng else I’ve got going on. the best facial relaxer: sex, don’t laugh, it’s true ; )

caio for now, Zen Lill

It’s about time someone stood up and said, “Enough’s enough.”

The Food and Drug Administration is being sued for censorship and is accused of being in contempt of a court order.

This has been a long time coming.

The accusations stem from the FDA’s constant meddling with the language it will allow to describe the health claims of vitamins and supplements — even when there are clear studies that back up their effectiveness. Back in June, the FDA pulled 13 claims it had previously allowed. Then, it rewrote four others to the point where they were completely useless.

The law firm that filed the suit has represented supplement makers and physicians over the years. They say the FDA’s recent actions violate federal court rulings issued in 1999 and 2002, which declare that disclosure must be favored over suppression.

Right now, the FDA’s main game is suppression — and it has a willing partner in the Federal Trade Commission, which also engages in the harsh censorship of good scientific information.

Both organizations now find themselves in court, with the FTC on the losing end of a decision in August. The FTC sought $24 million in fines from a supplement maker, but a federal judge found that the company had “clearly offered support and substantiation for the claims regarding their products.”

The FTC and FDA like to play the bully — they hope their threats will force vitamin and supplement makers to back down before the case ever reaches a judge, but in this case the company didn’t.

When they got to court, the FTC was all bark and no bite — its own experts couldn’t say that the products in question were ineffective, nor could they say that they harmed consumers — the two main complaints made by the FTC against the company.

There’s no doubt that there needs to be some mechanism in place to prevent unscrupulous firms from making unproven claims about their products. And it goes without saying that you need to be smart about whom you buy your supplements from and stick to reputable companies.

But there’s also no doubt in my mind that the FDA has overstepped its bounds, and its priority is protecting Big Pharma’s big drugs rather than making sure patients have accurate information about vitamins, nutrients and supplements.

The FDA has for years had an incredible double standard when it comes to prescription drugs and vitamins. Vitamins often require long disclaimers, even when there is solid evidence of their effectiveness.

Many prescription meds don’t work nearly as well as some of these nutrients, and yet Big Pharma is rarely required to put the same kinds of disclaimers on its drug bottles.

Some major antidepressants were found to be no better than placebos in a landmark 2008 study — yet the FDA has not forced the inclusion of this very real data onto antidepressant pill bottles or even in their marketing literature.

In fact, it usually takes some pretty serious side effects or even deaths before the FDA will consider a warning on the more dangerous meds — too little, too late.

It’s time for someone to put an end to this nonsense and let people speak honestly about effective vitamins and nutrients.

Enough’s enough.
————————
Ruth