The virus, known as adeno-associated virus type 2 (AAV2), is naturally occurring and carried by up to 80 percent of humans, but it does not cause any disease.

Researchers learned of its cancer-killing properties in 2005, after Penn State scientists observed it killing cervical cancer cells. They also found that women who carried the AAV2 virus and human papillomavirus (HPV), which causes cervical cancer, had a lower propensity to develop cervical cancer.

When combined in a lab recently, AAV2 eradicated all the breast cancer cells “within seven days,” according to researchers. Better still, it proved capable of wiping out cancer cells at multiple stages, negating the need for differing treatments used today.

“If we can determine which viral genes are being used, we may be able to introduce those genes into a [therapy],” explained Penn State research associate Samina Alam. “If we can determine which pathways the virus is triggering, we can then screen new drugs that target those pathways. Or we may simply be able to use the virus itself.”

The Center for Disease Control says that breast cancer is the most common type of canceraffecting American women. Overall, it is second only to lung cancer in causing more deaths than any other form of the disease.

The American Cancer Society estimates that up to 39,520 women in the U.S. will die from cancer just this year, out of about 230,480 new cases discovered by doctors.

Image credit: Flickr user Caitlinator, for Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Correction: An earlier version of this article said that breast cancer kills more women than any other form of cancer. Lung cancer, actually, takes this dubious credit. Additionally, the headline should have said “all grades of breast cancer,” instead of “all types.”

Guest Writer for Wake Up World

The L.A. Times published an article by Rosie Mestel (4/9/12) questioning whether or not fish oil was good for us.  This article was based on findings reported in the Archives of Internal Medicine, from a team of scientists from S. Korea.  Here’s the article link.

The findings of the study show that, “taking omega-3 fatty acid supplements won’t protect against repeat heart attacks, strokes or other cardiovascular problems.”  The lead researcher, Dr. Seung-Kwon Myung, chief of the carcinogenesis branch of the National Cancer Center, Republic of Korea, said that, “It is effective against cardiovascular disease to eat fish rich in omega-3 fatty acids, not supplements.”

The lead researcher on a long term study of more than 20,000 patients is supportive of eating oily fish 2 to 3 times per week, and not replacing healing foods with supplements.  While I do believe that high quality fish oil supplements can be a great support for some people, I agree with Dr. Seung-Kwon Myung that there is no replacement for the whole food.

Our bodies use the omega-3 fatty acids found in flax, wheat germ, hemp seeds, and fish to create anti-inflammatory substances in the body.  When we ingest alpha-linolenic acid, or ALA, we begin a process whereby our bodies use ALA to form the fatty acids found primarily in fish oil, eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA).  The EPA and DHA are then converted by our body into the anti-inflammatory substance I mentioned above – prostaglandins.

Prostaglandins assist us in a variety of ways.  They regulate cellular communication, they help maintain homeostasis, they increase blood flow to the kidneys, dilate bronchial tubes, and most importantly for this discussion, they control inflammatory function.  The prostaglandins created by the conversion of ALA into EPA and DHA are anti-inflammatory prostaglandins, no more or less important than prostaglandins that are inflammatory, but that’s a different blog….

Suffice it to say, the anti-inflammatory prostaglandins are highly important for healing to occur within the body.  The fatty acids found in fish, EPA and DHA, are one step closer to the goal of prostaglandin production than the fatty acids found in the other foods listed above, such as flax and walnuts.  Many factors must be present within the body for the conversion of ALA into EPA and DHA.  Proper digestion, liver function, correct enzyme activity, as well as adequate amounts of zinc, magnesium, and specific B vitamins – all this must be present for the tricky conversion to occur.  Our ethnicity may also play a role in our ability to convert fatty acids into the anti-inflammatory substances we need.

Bottom line?  Follow the doc’s orders and eat fish, preferably cold water oily fish that is wild caught.  The quality of fish oil found in supplements is questionable, and these rancid oils severely disrupt the conversion of fatty acids into anti-inflammatory prostaglandins.  Researchers found that, “the potential cardiovascular benefits of fish oil supplements have produced mixed results,” while fresh fish such as wild caught salmon and mackerel helped heal cardiovascular inflammation.

SOURCE:   http://wakeup-world.com/2012/05/14/fish-not-fish-oil-how-our-body-uses-fats-to-heal/

Ever since direct-to-consumer drug advertising became commonplace on television, in magazines and even on billboards starting in the 1990s, more Americans than ever become convinced that they have some novel new disease that requires ongoing treatment with medication. And these conditions include things like attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), anxiety, depression, asthma, gastroesophageal reflux (GERD) and many others.

But many of these conditions have essentially been made up, or at least grossly overblown, for the purpose of selling new drugs. Individuals are made to feel as though they must take a drug for the rest of their lives in order to mitigate the symptoms of these new and novel conditions. And the consequence of this has been a massive upswing in the number of pharmaceutical drug addicts in America today, conveniently making Big Pharma very rich in the process.

The big three – behavioral drugs, statins, and antidepressants

Writing forAlterNet.org, Martha Rosenberg recently outlined six types of drugs that drug companies hope you and your family will get suckered into taking for the rest of your lives. And rounding out the top three, though not in this particular order in Rosenberg’s piece, are behavioral drugs, statin drugs and antidepressants.

Every year, the age at which children are “pre-diagnosed” for conditions like ADHD, bipolar disorder and other so-called “behavioral” problems gets younger and younger. More than 20 million American children, in fact, have been diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder, even though the vast majority of them are simply immature children that have yet to develop into adults (http://www.naturalnews.com/033131_psychiatric_disease_labeling.html).

This is precisely how Big Pharma has been able to rope more parents into drugging up their children, by convincing them that their children have inherent behavioral problems that must continually be addressed by drugs that calm or “normalize” them. And the same is often true for children and adults that are diagnosed with depression and told they must take antidepressants for an indefinite period of time (http://www.naturalnews.com/031267_antidepressants_medical_fraud.html).

Then there are statin drugs, which purportedly normalize cholesterol levels and prevent cardiovascular problems, but that must be taken throughout a person’s life. Even though statins cause many other health problems, even raising the risk of cardiovascular events, many patients fear that if they stop taking them, their arteries will become clogged and they will be worse off in the long run.

Hormone replacement therapy, proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) for “heartburn,” and asthma-control medicines are three other major drug categories that require constant use as well, even though they only address symptoms while doing little or nothing to address the underlying health problems involved. Incidentally, each of these classifications is also linked to very serious side effects.

“[Pharma executives] have shown less interest in medicines like antibiotics that actually cure disease than in those that only treat symptoms,” wrote Melody Petersen ofOur Daily Medsabout the issue. “Most blockbusters are pills for conditions such as anxiety, high cholesterol or constipation that must be taken daily, often for months or years. They are designed for rich Americans who can afford to buy them.”

SOURCE: http://www.naturalnews.com/035859_Big_Pharma_prescription_drugs.html#ixzz1urqBFsuG

David Hogan first began helping with Gulf cleanup efforts on June 1, 2010. But almost immediately, he noticed that something was off with the way oil was sinking below the surface, and how it was sticking to his and his team’s wetsuits. But after bringing this anomaly to the attention of a BP “health and safety” officer, he was reassured that everything was just fine, and that there was absolutely no health risk from exposure to the oil and any related chemicals that might accompany it.

But it turns out that this was completely false information, as the Corexit dispersant chemicals sprayed in the Gulf after the disaster began — reports says more than 1.8 million gallons of Corexit were dumped into the Gulf — are known to be severely neurotoxic. But this information was deliberately withheld from Hogan and his team upon inquiry, which reassured them that their several months of diving work was going to be problem-free.

In the end, Hogan and his team ended up with permanent injuries that left several of them, including Hogan, completely unable to walk. They also developed neurological problems, as well as vision problems that gradually resulted in permanent blindness. Several members of the team became so injured and hopeless that they actually committed suicide.

Hogan and his wife are now seeking damages for this heinous crime against humanity, which has left at least two men dead and one permanently debilitated. According to the lawsuit, Hogan, who had previously been in optimal shape and of good health, has lost 60 pounds, is bound to a wheelchair, and suffers from cognitive problems, seizures, and vertigo as a result of repeated exposure to Corexit.

Federal government complicit in Corexit coverup

For a while after the Gulf disaster began, federal authorities, including those at the U.S.Environmental Protection Agency(EPA), had refused to require full disclosure of the chemicals used in Corexit. But after being repeatedly pressed on the issue, they finally caved, which ended up exposing several highly toxic chemical ingredients known to cause serious health damage similar to what Hogan and his now-dead colleagues have endured (http://www.naturalnews.com/028974_Corexit_dispersants.html).

So not only is BP and its cohort of multinational oil industry barons at fault for the damage caused by Corexit, but so are the government officials and agencies that have been complicit all along in this massive coverup. Further investigation into this matter is needed not only to expose the truth about Corexit, but also to bring justice to those that have suffered or died as a result of exposure to it.

SOURCE: http://www.naturalnews.com/035819_corexit_chemicals_injuries.html#ixzz1uZucBU4r

Minneapolis, MN — Several Minnesota mothers who organize community access to local fresh farm foods plan to risk criminal charges by openly and publicly defying warnings from the Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA). The MDA has threatened several mothers, conducted investigations against them and sent them warning letters that if they continue helping provide fresh food to their friends and neighbors, they will be subject to criminal charges and prosecution. The MDA alleges the Mothers are violating food-handling regulations.

Dozens of individuals who are disgusted with what they regard as MDA’s overly aggressive tactics are expected to join in the same activity as these mothers.

“It is absolutely outrageous that during this time of economic crisis our state government is investigating and sending warning letters to mothers and putting farmers on trial who are helping provide communities with fresh foods. It is my right to contract privately with a farmer for the food of my choice just as it is the right of every American,” says Melinda Olson a mother and recipient of one of the MDA’s letters. “The MDA’s harassment against mothers will not work. We plan to ignore this warning and continue operating as we are. MDA should not waste taxpayer money investigating, prosecuting and jailing peaceful farmers and mothers for helping their communities secure fresh foods. Our time to stand up against this tyranny is now!”

In addition to the threatening letters the MDA sent the mothers, MDA has brought charges against two local farmers for supplying their communities with fresh foods. Mothers who rely on the food and delivery service of one of these farmers, Alvin Schlangen, are facing loss of their food supply if Schlangen is jailed on four misdemeanor charges for providing food to his community. The charges against Schlangen stem from alleged handling of food without a permit, mislabeling food, and handling unprocessed, fresh milk, which is a crime according to the MDA.

SOURCE:  http://www.naturalnews.com/035826_Minnesota_raw_milk_moms.html#ixzz1uZqnBVeR

TheWashington Timesreports that a new four-page proposal made by the FDA suggests that cholesterol (statins), diabetes, and asthma drugs, among others, be made available over-the-counter (OTC) to patients without a prescription. And what is the reason for this? According to the agency, too many patients are not getting their prescriptions filled, and many would-be patients are not going in to receive the treatments that their medical overlords feel they should be receiving.

The drug industry, in other words, is losing profits because many patients simply are not participating in the health care system as we know it. So to help boost participation, the drug industry’s gatekeeper, the FDA, is working on behalf of Big Pharma to make prescription drugs as easy to access as a candy bar or a pack of gum, even though prescription drugs are typically extremely high-risk and come with severe side effects.

“The FDA has not offered any evidence establishing that it is safe, or patient outcomes are improved, when patients with hypertension, [high cholesterol], asthma or migraine headaches self-diagnose and manage these (or other) serious chronic medical conditions on their own,” said Dr. Sandra Fryhofer, who testified on behalf of theAmerican Medical Association(AMA) at an FDA-held public hearing recently.

But this has not stopped the FDA, Big Pharma, and various pharmacist groups from arguing that there are somehow too many barriers to patients accessing deadly pharmaceuticals. The FDA’s proposal, in fact, explicitly views having to see a doctor before being allowed access to prescription drugs an “unnecessary hindrance,” according to Sarah Kliff from theWashington Post(http://www.washingtonpost.com).

Both sides fighting for the same goal – to maximize prescription drug use

Meanwhile, both sides of the debate appear to be concerned about one thing, and one thing only — getting as many people as possible to take their prescription drugs. Peter Carmel from the AMA, for instance, told theWashington Postthat he is concerned patients will not take their prescription drugsunlessthey first see a doctor, while the other side says having to see a doctor deters too many patients from accessing prescription drugs.

In either case, the medical-industrial complex is primarily concerned with drug company profits rather than patient safety. And the FDA, which is also busy aggressively harassing and tyrannizing family farmers selling raw milk to willing customers (http://www.naturalnews.com/033280_FDA_raids_timeline.html), is an active co-conspirator in this drug industry scam to basically deregulate prescription drugs to boost industry profits.

You can view the FDA proposal, entitledUsing Innovative Technologies and Other Conditions of Safe Use To Expand Which Drug Products Can Be Considered Nonprescription(Docket No. FDA-2012-N-0171), here:
http://www.regulations.gov/#!documentDetail;D=FDA-2012-N-0171-0001

SOURCE:  http://www.naturalnews.com/035801_FDA_prescription_drugs_over_the_counter.html#ixzz1uJGOrwAC

Contributing Writer for Wake Up World

Scientists at Washington State University are now confirming once again what natural health experts have known for years — garlic fights one of the most common food-borne illnesses much more effectively than antibiotics. Garlic has built a strong reputation in fighting infections, a benefit that is but one of many.

Campylobacter bacterium, the name for the common bacteria that often results in intestinal illness, affects around 2.4 million Americans per year and is often treated with illness-linked antibiotics, but maybe not anymore.

According to the researchers, the information ‘opens the door’ to the many benefits of garlic when it comes to preventing and fighting infections. This means treating certain food items, cleaning, and use as a healing food substance. Once again, however, these mainstream scientists are simply re-discovering what many cultures have known (and have been utilizing) for centuries! It’s no secret that garlic is really a nutritional powerhouse, a superfood that can boost overall immunity and combat diseases — even superviruses that have the medical community in a frenzy.

Even Greek athletes used garlic to boost their physical performance in the arena due to the deep knowledge of the food’s empowering properties. Leading expert Dr. David Kraus explains:

“People have known garlic was important and has health benefits for centuries,” said Dr. David W. Kraus, associate professor of environmental science and biology at the University of Alabama. “Even the Greeks would feed garlic to their athletes before they competed in the Olympic games.”

Garlic even has a role in the prevention of cancer — the disease that is currently ravaging the population. In fact, it is a role that is quite notorious among cultures who have been using garlic in their dishes for countless years. Scientists believe that the role of garlic in cancer prevention quite possibly has to do with the way that garlic boosts the production of something known as hydrogen sulfide. It is this very substance that also protects the heart. Researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine found that directly injecting hydrogen sulfide into mice almost completely stopped damage to heart muscles as a result of heart attack.

The benefits of garlic are many, and the mainstream scientific community is just catching on to how important of a role garlic plays in the diet.

SOURCE:   http://wakeup-world.com/2012/05/07/scientists-garlic-fights-common-illness-better-than-antibiotics/

Ideal sweeteners are formed in nature and are minimally processed. These would include organic sugar, stevia, raw honey, maple syrup, etc. The greater the processing the more dangerous the sweetener can potentially be. Artificial sweeteners are often devised completely in a laboratory or they begin as sugar and undergo massive processing. Some of the most dangerous artificial sweeteners & flavor enhancers include the following:

Aspartame: Originally approved in 1981 for use in food is 200 times sweeter than sugar. It is composed of 50 percent phenylalanine, 40 percent aspartic acid and 10 percent methanol. Excess phenylalanine has been shown to disrupt normal serotonin levels in the nervous system which can lead to depressive, emotional & psychotic disorders. Individuals who continually consume aspartame will have elevated phenylalanine.

Aspartic acid: an excitotoxin that literally over excites neurons and destroys cells. Methanol is also a neurotoxin and its absorption is also increased when aspartame is heated above 86 degrees Fahrenheit. This heating breaks methanol into formaldehyde which damages the nervous system and is highly carcinogenic.

Acefultame Potassium: This artificial sweetener is often times used in combination with other artificial sweeteners such as sucralose and/or aspartame to mask any form of after taste. This sweetener has been shown to stimulate insulin secretions even though it does not increase blood sugar. Elevated insulin increases inflammation and hampers immunity. Since Acefultame does not increase blood sugar this insulin response can stimulate reactive hypoglycemia. It has been linked to leukemia, breast cancer, thymus cancer and chronic respiratory diseases.

Sucralose: This artificial sweetener is marketed as if it came
from natural sugar. However, it is highly processed with three chlorine
atoms that damage the microflora within the human gut. The biochemist
Dr. James Bown says “sucralose is simply chlorinated sugar.” Sucralose
has been shown to damage the thymus gland and inflame the liver and
kidneys. Chlorine is a natural anti-septic that harms the human gut and
destroys microflora leading to candida formation, irritable bowel
syndrome, ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease, obesity and cachexia.

Sodium Benzoate: This is a type of water soluble preservative salt that
is created by adding sodium hydroxide and benzoic acid. It is found in
many soft drinks, energy drinks and other processed foods and drinks.
Sodium Benzoate consumption has been strongly linked with
neurodevelopmental disorders such as ADHD and inflammatory disorders
such as asthma. The combination of sodium benzoate and ascorbic acid
(vitamin C) which is quite common in soft drinks and popular energy
drinks creates the highly carcinogenic substance benzene. Benzene is
linked with many serious cancers such as leukemia and lymphoma.

Monosodium glutamate:This extremely dangerous flavor enhancer and preservative is used in many canned and packaged foods. TheArizona Center for Advanced Medicinehas stated that it promotes the growth of cancer cells and is highly neurotoxic in the body. Other studies have linked it to liver damage, chronic inflammation, chronic pain and weight loss resistance. It is often included under deceptive names such as autolyzed yeast extract, natural flavorings, soy protein, whey protein isolate, etc.

SOURCE:   http://www.naturalnews.com/035752_artificial_sweeteners_flavor_chemicals.html

The U.K.’sTelegraphreports that Kimber had been staying with her grandmother when the overdose occurred. According to Kimber’s father, the young girl apparently started to complain about leg pain, cramps, and muscle spasms in the hours before her death. Not long after, she collapsed and was unable to be revived.

A toxicology report later revealed that Kimber had 96 nanograms per milliliter (ng/ml) of dextromethorphan, the active ingredient in most cough medicines, in her blood. The upper limit of this drug for adults is 40 ng/ml. Kimber also had 490 ng/ml of cetirizine, the active ingredient in the allergy medication Zyrtec, in her blood as well. The upper limit for cetirizine is between 271 and 352 ng/ml.

“In my opinion, the combination of these drugs — which were the ingredients of the over-the-counter medications with which Kimber was being treated — caused her death,” said Dr. Carol Huser, the coroner who conducted the autopsy. “People do not understand medication you buy off the supermarket shelf can be harmful. Common drugs like aspirin, Tylenol and Benadryl will kill you if you take too much of them.”

Though the Sixth Judicial District Attorney’s Office has already initiated an investigation to see whether or not criminal charges should be filed, Dr. Huser has declared the incident an accident. After all, the drug dosages Kimber took were not necessarily all that high based on the levels that were in her blood, which means it would have been relatively easy to accidentally overdose on them.

This is not the first case where children have died as a result of taking cough medicine. Back in 2008, an Illinois mother sued Walgreens and McNeil Pharmaceuticals, maker of Tylenol and a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, when her son died from taking cough medicines containing dextromethorphan (http://www.naturalnews.com/023370_medicine_Walgreens_cold.html).

Dextromethorphan is so dangerous, in fact, that a U.S.Food and Drug Administration(FDA) panel in 2010 evaluated whether or not drugs containing it should even remain on shelves without a prescription (http://www.naturalnews.com/029643_cough_medicine_prescriptions.html). However, the panel apparently never followed through, as dextromethorphan is still readily available on drugstore shelves.

SOURCE:   http://www.naturalnews.com/035698_children_cough_medicine_death.html

The letter, which many experts see as the ominous writing on the wall for the grave severity of the circumstances, offers a disturbing glimpse into what is really going on across the Pacific Ocean that the mainstream media is apparently ignoring. While referencing the fact that all four of the affected reactors are still “badly damaged,” Sen. Wyden seems to hint in his letter that Reactor 4, which has reportedly been on the verge of collapse for many months now, could be nearing catastrophic implosion.

Imminent collapse of Reactor 4 could create a mass extinction event of both humans and animals

According to Christina Consolo, an award-winning biomedical photographer and host ofNuked Radio, Reactor 4 has remained in such bad shape that even a very small earthquake could quickly level the building, sending the fuel from more than 1,500 unused fuel rods into the environment. And with Reactor 4 still filled with the highest levels of radioactive MOX and other fuels, the consequences of this potential collapse could be far worse than anything that has happened thus far as a result of the earthquake and tsunami.

“[S]itting at the top of [Reactor 4], in a pool that is cracked, leaking, and precarious even without an earthquake, are 1,565 fuel rods (give or take a few), some of them ‘fresh fuel’ that was ready to go into the reactor on the morning of March 11 when the earthquake and tsunami hit,” writes Consolo. “If they are MOX fuel, containing six percent plutonium, one fuel rod has the potential to kill 2.89billionpeople.”

Sen. Wyden is also asking U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and Chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Gregory Jaczko to assess how much additional assistance their agencies might be willing to provide to help Japan, and the entire world, avoid a nuclear catastrophe of Biblical proportions.

“The scope of damage to the plants and to the surrounding area was far beyond what I expected and the scope of the challenges to the utility owner, the government of Japan, and to the people of the region are daunting,” wrote Sen. Wyden in his letter, dated April 16, 2012. “The precarious status of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear units and the risk presented by the enormous inventory of radioactive materials and spent fuel in the event of further earthquake threats should be of concern to all and a focus of greater international support and assistance.”

SOURCE:    http://www.naturalnews.com/035731_Fukushima_radiation_America.html