Antidepressants – Hidden Drug Trials Show Negative Results
By Mark Schauss | February 28, 2008
It almost seems to be an everyday issue, but more and more we see how drug trials that don’t show benefits are being either ignored, hidden or modified by the pharmaceutical industry. In a review of the studies on 12 antidepressant drugs, researchers led by Erick H. Turner found that 31% of the studies on these drugs went unpublished and the majority were negative or were conveyed to have a positive outcome which was contrary to the data. The paper was published in the New England Journal of Medicine, in their January 17, 2008 issue. What was truly remarkable was how much the perceived benefits of the drugs were changed because of the lack of publication of all of the data. According to the authors, if you looked at the published research, the antidepressant drugs had positive outcomes 94% of the time. If you include the unpublished research that number drops to a mere 51%. This is a huge difference and should make everyone think twice before agreeing to be put on the medications or at least safer, alternatives should be investigated first.
According to the papers conclusion, “We cannot determine whether the bias observed resulted from a failure to submit manuscripts on the part of authors and sponsors, from decisions by journal editors and reviewers not to publish, or both. Selective reporting of clinical trial results may have adverse consequences for researchers, study participants, health care professionals, and patients.” In my opinion, it is the sponsors who are probably most likely to apply pressure to stop publication. This would mean that the pharmaceutical industry is to blame. We need to take research on drug efficacy out of their hands and into the hands of real researchers without the onus of pressure and conflict of interest.
Why is this so damaging? When you do a search on meta-analysis of antidepressant drugs, you find a number that show how beneficial the drugs are, like the one by Drs. Dubika, Hadley and Roberts entitled, “Suicidal behaviour in youths with depression treated with new-generation antidepressants” published in the British Journal of Psychiatry in 2006. Would that study’s conclusion, which is that “Antidepressants may cause a small short-term risk of self-harm or suicidal events in children and adolescents with major depressive disorder” have changed to a large short-term risk or a small long-term risk or maybe worst case scenario, a large long-term risk? Chances are, based on the Turner paper that the answer is yes, the results would have changed but by how much, we cannot tell.
What we can say is that there is a major problem that needs a solution and it has to come sooner than later. How many of us are on medications that may not be helping us or maybe damaging our health and that of our loved ones?
So what do we do about it? Determine biochemical imbalances and toxicity influences on behavior as well as inflammatory processes that have been shown to cause depression in people for decades. The research exists but it is being downplayed by greedy pharmaceutical giants whose obvious intention is to make money at all costs and deflect criticism and downgrade safe alternatives.
Topics: Drugs, Neurological Disorders, Opinion, Research | No Comments »
Pesticides and Autism – More Data Supporting My View on the Effect of Toxins
By Mark Schauss | February 27, 2008
At the AutismOne conference back in 2005, I was in room #2 talking about the link of multiple toxins and autism. In room #1 was Dr. Rasheed Buttar who was all about mercury. I told my audience that one day, the multiple toxin theory was going to be in room #1 eventually, maybe not with me in it, but eventually the day would come. One more study, published by the journal Environmental Health Persepectives, has led credence to my theory.
In the October 2007 issue, researchers led by Eric Roberts et al, published a paper called Maternal Residence Near Agricultural Pesticide Applications and Autism Spectrum Disorder Among Children in the California Central Valley (click on the link and you get to read the entire paper free of charge). In this paper the authors find that there was an increase in the incidence of autism the closer the pregnant mothers were to certain organophosphate pesticide applications. For years I have said that toxic exposures to the mother can cause fetal developmental disorders depending on the time of the exposure. This is just more data to back up my claims.
My theory has always been than somehow my daughter Tasya was exposed, while in fetal development, to some form of toxin to cause the brain dysfunction that caused her unusual epileptic disorder. I feel that many people with children have had the same issue whether it be autism, epilepsy or even other neurological or health related disorders. Fetuses are very suceptible to the dangers of toxins, more so than anyone else.
One other issue I want to bring up is the preposterous article that gave a clean bill of health to thimerasol by authors publishing in the New England Journal of Medicine. You would be hard pressed find a more poorly done study, misreported by the media, than this. Instead of listing my thoughts on all of the poor study parameters, follow this link to the Adventures in Autism blogsite, run by Ginger Taylor. The one really striking part of her eight part rebutal to this paper is that no autistic children were included in the study. Now that is a convenient way of avoiding finding a link between autism and thimerasol.
Two other very disturbing issues come up as well. First, that around 70% of the participants in the study dropped out. When I worked in the pharmaceutical clinical trial business, it was pretty well known that when you have a drop out rate any where near that level, the study is pretty much worthless. The data cannot be used to make any kind of a judgement. Second real major issue is the huge conflicts of interest among the authors of the study as each one has significant ties to the vaccine manufacturers! Poor judgement on the part of the NEJM to publish this paper, worse than that, for the media to so misrepresent the data.
As you can see from the first part of my post, I do not believe that mercury is the sole cause of autism. It isn’t. Having said that, I believe it is one of the factors in the epidemic of autism.
Topics: Health, Neurological Disorders, Opinion, Research, Toxicity | No Comments »
Prozac – A Failure to Heal
By Mark Schauss | February 26, 2008
In an article published in PLoS Medicine by Drs. Kirsch and colleagues shows that the drug Prozac is no better than placebo in treating depression. Given that placebo has no side-effects, this means that Prozac is not only worthless, but dangerous. By including unpublished, negative studies, the authors found out that the drug is a waste of money and does not benefit the nearly 40 million people taking it.
Better therapies include the use of amino acids among other more natural treatments. When I was suffering from depression back in the early 1980s, I used electrolytes developed by my late mentor John Kitkoski of Life Balances to help. Since my first exposure to them in 1984, I haven’t had one episode of depression. Because of that I developed a line of electrolytes for Crayhon Research called Peltier. Now be forewarned, this is not to be considered a treatment or cure of depression, it is something I feel personally helped me and may help others.
Another ares to look at would be environmental toxins as some of them are known to cause depression. A deficiency of Prozac does not cause depression but an elevated level of lead or mercury can. Excessive exposure to solvents may also dampen mental acuity which in turn can bring on depression. Go to Crayhon Research’s website for more information about the types of tests that can help your health care practitioner determine your level of toxic exposure.
Topics: brain nutrition, Drugs, Environment, Health, heavy metals, Laboratory Tests, Neurological Disorders, Petrochemicals, Research | 1 Comment »
Cholesterol Lowering Drugs are Worthless in Most Cases – Part Three
By Mark Schauss | February 25, 2008
Before I get into today’s discussion on inflammation, please go to this link put up by Chance News, a group dedicated to reviewing information about the use of statistics in the news. They review the cholesterol news and and the statistics behind it. Go down halfway down the page to see the report.
Inflammation. That is the key driver of many disease progressions. From arthritis to coronary heart disease and from cancer to many neurological disorders, if you control inflammation, you control the disease. Two things are important in determining what to do when it comes to your, or your patient’s inflammatory issues. First is proper laboratory testing is lifestyle changes.
The tenet of biochemical individuality is that each person must be dealt with as a unique being. By suggesting that everyone who has a risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) should take one drug or one supplement is an insult to Dr. Roger Williams concept. The only way to determine what is going on is to do the appropriate lab tests.
When looking for markers of inflammation as they relate to coronary heart disease, one jumps out as being a primary marker and that is C-Reactive Protein. CRP is a protein produced by the liver and is increased during inflammatory processes. People with elevated levels are more likely to have a coronary event than people with low levels. It is important to note that a single high reading is not a good marker for CHD, a number of elevations (>3.0 mg/L) would signify a problem. Crayhon Research, in conjunction with ZRT Laboratories is a place to get a simple, in-home test (Cardio/Hormone Risk Test) that uses blood spot and saliva to test not only for CRP, but a number of other coronary risk factors as well as hormone levels.
What would cause an elevation in inflammatory markers? Toxicity is one so testing for urinary markers of petrochemicals which is done only by US Biotek, is a good place to start. By seeing if you are excreting chemicals like benzene, styrene, xylene, toluene, phthalates or parabens, you can find out where your exposures might be coming from. Another good test to run is a Hair Elements test from Doctor’s Data to determine possible heavy metal exposure. To help you better understand the report, I suggest Dr. Andrew Cutler’s book – Hair Test Interpretation: Finding Hidden Toxicities.
Another source of inflammatory triggers is food and the best test I have ever found in determining which foods can cause inflammation is the LEAP MRT. Developed by Signet Diagnostics, it can pinpoint the foods that cause the body to release pro-inflammatory prostaglandins, leukotrienes and cytokines that drive the inflammation process. It was the one test that helped my daughter control her seizure activity as well as behavioral issues. It has a great track record in relieving irritable bowel syndrome as well as migraines, both driven by inflammatory triggers.
If you want to become heart healthy, you need to find out whether your body is inflammed and if so, what is causing it. Once you do that, you reduce your risk of developing not just heart disease, but a number of other health conditions.
Topics: Drugs, Health, Laboratory Tests, Neurological Disorders, Opinion, Research | No Comments »
What is the FDA Thinking?
By Mark Schauss | February 24, 2008
The drug Avastin, has just been approved by the Federal Drug Administration for the treatment of breast cancer despite it having shown no benefits over exisiting drugs in prolonging life or improving the quality of life of women taking the drug. What is the point of taking a drug that doesn’t benefit the patient aside from making money for the pharmaceutical company (Genentech in this case)? I thought the criteria for the approval of cancer drugs is that it shows benefits for the users not ones that have greater side-effects like this one.
While the drug has shown to help in the shrinking of tumors, I cannot for the life of me understand how you approve a drug which fails at improving life quality and longevity and even has been shown to increase the risk of death. This is a horrible failure of the FDA to uphold its agenda. The independent outside advisor committee voted 5-4 AGAINST the approval for the drug yet the FDA in its puzzling wisdom rejected that advise. One has to wonder what their thinking was if you can call it thought.
Another bad day for the agency that needs a major overhaul.
Topics: Drugs, Health, Research | 1 Comment »
Change the World, a Little Step at a Time – Part Five
By Mark Schauss | February 24, 2008
Last in a series of tips to help change the world. Remember, we do not need to do big things everyday, small ones done often will make as big of an affect than the occasional big change. The key is to do something.
Tip #21 – Buy organic whenever possible. In the ’60s, the world used 30 million tons of pesticides and fertilizers a year. In 2000, it went up to 140 million tons. Buying organic tells food producers that you don’t want that to continue. Organic foods are simply healthier than non-organic.
Tip #22 – Stop buying artificial air fresheners. They contain volitile chemicals like phthalates that are flat out bad for you and especially children. Use things like potpourri’s or the like. You can find lots of natural oils at the local health food store that work just as well as their chemical cousins.
Tip #23 – Lay off products made with palm oil. To make palm oil, vast areas of the rain forest are being cut down, especially in Indonesia for the palm plantations. Switch to better oils like olive, canola or sunflower instead.
Tip #24 – Switch to safe detergents – At the Schauss house, we use Ecos laundry detergent which we get at Costco. Many regular detergents contain environmentally unfriendly chemicals which ruin our waterways.
Tip #25 – Buy fish that are caught in environmentally safe ways. Overfishing is becoming a problem, farm bred fish contain lots of chemicals, and popular fish like tuna contains mercury. Buying sustainable and healthy fish is important. My favorites are Vital Choice out of Washington. Not only is their fish phenomenal, they are really nice people as well.
Topics: Environment, Toxicity | No Comments »
Change the World, a Little Step at a Time – Part Four
By Mark Schauss | February 22, 2008
More tips to make your world greener. And happier!
Tip #16- Dump the gas powered lawnmower. Gasoline powered mowers generate as much pollution per hour as 40 cars. Switch to an electric or better yet, get a manual reel mower. Xeriscape if you can. Smaller lawns equals less water use.
Tip #17- Plant a tree. Seems simple but we all need to do it. Even if you don’t have land to plant a tree there are a number of organizations that can do it for you. Dell Computers has a website that allows you to make a donation to help plants trees. Their program is called “Plant a Tree for Me” and it allows you to see how little you need to donate to offset things like computers, printers and other computer related products.
Tip #18- Turn off the heat when washing clothes. Did you know there is no reason to use hot or even warm water when washing your clothes? You use 30% less energy when you wash in warm rather than hot and even more when you wash in cold water. To top it off, your clothes will last longer which is also good for the environment. You save lots of money and make the world a better place. Not bad eh?
Tip #19- Donate your old cellphones. At my house, the kids love playing with our old cell phones but for those of you without kids, or those with different tastes in toys, donate your old cell phones to charity because if you throw them out, they will leach toxic chemicals into the environment.
Tip #20 – Drop the pesticides. One of the worst things you can do to the environment is the use of pesticides. There are so many natural alternatives like putting bay leaves into your flour and cereals will repel weevils, ants hate peppermint and cucumber peel, and if you have mice, soak cotton balls in citronella or oil of peppermint and leave them in areas you notice they like to congregate.
Topics: Environment, Toxicity | No Comments »
Change the World, a Little Step at a Time – Part Three
By Mark Schauss | February 21, 2008
Here are more of my favorite ways to change our world. Remember, pick one or two here and there and start the process.
Tip #11 – Invest in the rainforest. The United States is the richest country in the world and I am proud to say, the most giving. Still, every year we give gifts to our family members and friends and often times the gifts are used for a short time then either discarded or put away. Imagine a gift that will last a lifetime and make a difference. Go to the World Land Trust and buy an acre of the rainforest and you can do just that. Buy a half acre or an acre. Imagine 1/2 acre of land in lieu of 2 weeks worth of lattés.
Tip #12 – Don’t keep your cell phone charger plugged in. If you do, 95% of the energy it uses is wasted. Remember that what we want to do here is reduce waste first then consumption. I believe America can become energy self-sufficient if it cut back just one-quarter of its wasteful habits.
Tip #13 – Turn your office computer off each night. The amount of energy that a computer burns overnight when not being used is the equivalent of laser printing 800 pages of documents. This adds up in one year to 1.9 tons of CO2 (which would cost you $10.45 to offset [Carbon Fund Offset Calculator]).
Tip #14 – Say no to junk mail. Aside from being horribly annoying, junk mail is horrible for the environment. Go to the Direct Marketing Association to opt out of receiving junk mail. It won’t eliminate it but it will lower it substantially which will in turn save trees.
Tip #15 – Turn off your screen and forget about the “screen saver”. Screen savers use almost as much energy as when you are using the screen. Turn off your screen if you will be away from your desk more than 1/2 an hour.
Topics: Environment, Toxicity | No Comments »
Change the World, a Little Step at a Time – Part Two
By Mark Schauss | February 20, 2008
Here is part two of my multi-part series on changing the world by lowering your environmental footprint.
Tip #6 – Don’t shave on weekends. Doesn’t seem like much but if you think about it, all we need to do are a number of small things to make a big difference.
Tip #7 – Recycle newspaper. For every yard in height of newspaper you recycle, you save one tree from being cut down. Remember, trees help suck up the CO2 from the atmosphere.
Tip #8 – Unplug electronic devices. When you leave computers, TV’s and other household appliances plugged in and on standby when they won’t be used for a few hours, they are draining electricity anyway. Unplug your television if you won’t be around to watch it for 8 hours or so. Better yet, reduce your television viewing and not only will you be saving money and electricity, you’ll be finding lots of better things to do with your life. They didn’t call it the boob tube for nothing.
Tip #9 – Buy organic milk instead of regular. Not only will you reduce the use of environmentally unfriendly pesticides, insecticides and hormones, you will benefit from the ingestion of healthier milk, richer in omega-3 fatty acids than regular milk.
Tip #10 – Reuse cooking water. Why dump the water you cooked your pasta in down the drain? Save it, let it cool and water your plants. Same with the water used to cook your veggies. Think about reusing the water you use to cook with and you’ll not only be saving water and money, but you will be adding nutrients to your plants as well.
As I said yesterday, find a couple of things here and there to change your lifestyle and pretty soon, everything you do will be green.
Topics: Environment, Toxicity | No Comments »
Change the World, a Little Step at a Time
By Mark Schauss | February 19, 2008
Now with the release of my book “Achieving Victory Over a Toxic World”, I thought it’s time to start giving my readers tips on how you can make a difference when it comes to our environment. We tend to think that our footprint compared to big companies and governments are so small that any change we make is miniscule. Furthermore, so many of the books out there remind us that if ¼ of the population were to do something (like change from incandescent to fluorescent bulbs), the environment would improve greatly. This is nice in the abstract but how does this excite me to make a difference. My thought is that it doesn’t matter what everyone else does until you do it yourself.
If you can put your head on your pillow tonight knowing that you did something, even something very small, to lower your environmental footprint, then you will have helped save our planet.
No need to do all of my tips; pick a few that you feel you can accomplish and those that pertain to your life. I will be posting those things my family and I will be doing to change our habits to be better stewards of our environment. Together we can and will change this world.
Tip #1 – If you can’t lower your travel, offset your carbon dioxide (CO2) emission by going to the CarbonFund website and make a donation. They have calculators to show how much your travels generate greenhouse gases and what it would cost to offset them. An example is how much my car, a 2003 Saturn Vue would cost to offset for one year. I travel about 15,000 miles a year and to offset the 6.34 tons of CO2 it cost me $34.85 to offset that (My Prius only cost me $13.31). This money goes towards projects that will counter my polluting ways. My next car will be one that is about 20% more efficient than the Vue which is another way to lower my footprint.
Tip #2 – Automate your bill paying. Bills are never fun to pay but paying them online instead of via the mail reduces paper waste, lowers the gas needed to transport the payment and lowers postage costs. My family has been doing this for a few years now and it is much more efficient than the old paper way.
Tip #3 – Cook your meals from scratch. Stop buying pre-packaged foods that are a waste of material, energy hogs (creation of the product to the containers), and is infinitely healthier for you. My two daughters go to a Montessori school and they don’t allow pre-packaged foods to be used for their lunches which I believe is a great thing. The amount of time it takes to make a real meal versus a pre-packaged one is small. Make dinner creation a family event. It will bring you closer and will be good for your health and the health of our world.
Tip #4 – Don’t buy bottled water. Ugh, this one annoys me to no end. Fiji Water could be the worst. Imagine the amount of energy it takes to transport the bottling material from China to Fiji, then to pump the water up to the bottling plant and then shipping it to the US? Sound ridiculous to you? Does to me. I once wrote about this on my blog to show the insanity of buying bottled water. Get a glass or stainless steel container and bottle your own tap water (use a filter if you need to). It’s smart, environmentally right and you will save a bundle of money (remember, bottled water costs around $9.00 a gallon, tap is about .03¢).
Tip #5 – Stop using bleach. There are a number of alternatives and here is an easy one. Instead of using bleach tablets to keep your toilet clean, mix a cup of borax, mix in some vinegar (just a teaspoon should do) and leave overnight. Scrub in the morning and your porcelain is clean as can be and non-toxic. Guess what the Schauss family will be doing today?
The next few weeks I will be sharing lots more of these tips and then I will be uploading a tracker spreadsheet to help you see what kind of an impact you are having. It could become a fun, family affair or you can make it a neighborhood challenge to see who can make the biggest difference.
Topics: Environment, Toxicity | 1 Comment »