Nexus - 1802 - New Times Magazine-pages

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GLOBAL NEWS SHOCK STUDY SHOWS NO VALUE IN FLU VACCINATIONS Aeneas study published in the Cochrane Library found no evidence of benefit for influenza vaccinations and also noted that the vast majority of trials were inadequate. The authors stated that the only trials showing benefit were industry funded. They also pointed out that the industry-funded studies were more likely to be published in the most prestigious journals. In addition, they found cases of severe harm caused by the vaccines, in spite of inadequate reporting of adverse effects. The study, "Vaccines for preventing influenza in healthy adults", is damning of the entire pharmaceutical industry and its minions, the drug-testing industry and the medical system that relies on them. The authors attempted to find and investigate every study that has evaluated the effects of flu vaccines in healthy adults aged 18-65. To this end, they searched the "Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) (The Cochrane Library, 2010, issue 2), MEDLINE (January 1966 to June STRONG LA NINA AFFECTING GLOBAL WEATHER AND CLIMATE ew NASA satellite data indicates that the current La Nifia event in the eastern Pacific remained strong during November and December 2010. "The solid record of La Nifia strength only goes back about 50 years and this latest event appears to be one of the strongest ones over this time period,” said climatologist Bill Patzert of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. "It is already impacting weather and climate all around the planet. This La Nifia has strengthened for the past seven months and is one of the most intense events of the past half- Aanterers! 2010) and EMBASE (1990 to June 2010)". They included 50 reports; 40 of them were clinical trials, adding up to over 70,000 people. Two reported only on harmful effects and were not included in this study. Studies of all types of influenza vaccines were included: live, attenuated and killed—or fractions of killed—vaccines. The authors concluded in a somewhat understated manner: "The results of this review seem to discourage the utilisation of vaccination against influenza in healthy adults as a routine public health measure. As healthy adults have a low risk of complications due to respiratory disease, the use of the vaccine may be only advised as an individual protection measure against symptoms in specific cases." The authors also found that “industry-funded studies were...cited more than other studies", that "reliable evidence on influenza vaccines is thin", and that "there is evidence of widespread manipulation of conclusions". To view the study, go to the web page http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ pubmed/20614424. (Source: GaiaHealth.com, 16 December 2010, http://tinyurl.com/490mfod) Nifia century." "Although exacerbated by precipitation from a tropica cyclone, rainfalls of historic proportion in eastern Queensland, Australia, have led to levels o flooding usually only seen once in a century,” said David Adamec, oceanographer at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. "The copious rainfall is a direct result of La Nifia's effect on the Pacific trade winds and has made tropical Australia particularly rainy this year." (Source: NASA press release, 13 January 20n, http://tinyurl.com/4j8eads) FARM ANIMALS CONSUME 80% OF ALL ANTIBIOTICS IN USA Fe years, scientists concerned about the threat of antibiotic- resistant bacteria in food-animal production have been trying to figure out just how much antibiotics producers are using each year. Now, long-awaited data has been released by the US Food and Drug Administration. Of the antibiotics sold in 2009 for both people and food animals, almost 80 per cent were reserved for livestock and poultry. The grand total for 2009: 13.1 million kilograms. A huge portion of those antibiotics was never intended to Soe rvi//e 10 * NEXUS FEBRUARY - MARCH 2011 www.nexusmagazine.com