Health Spectator

We’ve said before that while the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other sources refuse to acknowledge vaccines as a cause of autism, the anecdotal evidence alone can be overwhelming. And that’s before we even get to those few studies that actually have addressed the issue.

Green Diva Mom Eleni Prokopeas

Here is the story of a mother of three whose second child became autistic after receiving his vaccinations at the age of two. It began with a high fever the night of the vaccination and went down hill from there. But despite her doctors’s inability to help her son, Eleni Prokopeas developed her own 10-step protocol to overcome autism. By the age of six, her son was functioning normally again.

Click here to hear Eleni Prokopeas tell the whole story while you browse our site. She tells how the autism came about, then about her efforts—ultimately successful—to cure it. (The audio file will open in another tab or browser. Return to this tab or browser and you can continue browsing the site while you listen.)

You can find out more about Eleni Prokopeas and her 10-step protocol for cure here.

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Sometimes we come across pieces in our files that never made it into “print” because they still had a few unfinished paragraphs or sentences, or maybe we just didn’t find time that week to do a final edit, after which it was forgotten. We think of them as orphans. This is one of those that we’ve come back to, finished and updated. We hope you find it useful, if much belated.

We saw it today on our own home page, right at the top of the list of the Reuters news feeds: Many Americans still do not get fluoridated water. The ensuing article quotes Dr. William Bailey of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s Division of Oral Health as bemoaning the tragedy that more Americans aren’t getting fluoridated water. Then, further down the list, we found a headline to an article on a related subject that set our hackles on end: US Mayors Agree to Phase Out Bottled Water.

Now don’t get us wrong: we’re no huge fan of bottled water. Yes, we understand that the plastic bottles are not only a huge waste-disposal problem, but generally unhealthy in their own right because of the plastic or its components leaching into the water. And so many of the commercial bottled waters are just bottled tap water sold by the likes of Coke and Pepsi anyway. (The worst of these are highly fluoridated as well.)

So we think of the American obsession with buying bottles of water as—well, misguided. It’s just one of the many things we’ve been brainwashed into doing by the corporate media. Watch enough television, and you’ll start buying bottled water too. And don’t get us started about the current practice of putting flavorings and sugar in the water and calling it a “sports drink.” (Yeah, right!)

However, one of the reasons we hate to say goodbye to bottled water is that it is the only way many Americans can get water that isn’t fluoridated, although the proposal to require fluoridation of bottled water has been put on the table.

So we couldn’t help but wax cynical when we read the following statement in the first-mentioned Reuters article about fluoridated water:

Asked if there is any responsible evidence showing negative health effects due to fluoridated water, Bailey said, “No, not at the levels that we use in community water systems.”

This statement is misleading and irresponsible. (more…)

According to a posting by the Associated Press penned by Frank Jordans with the dateline Geneva, “U.S. health officials estimate the United States has passed the 1 million case mark.” The story is an interview with World Health Organization (WHO) second-in-command, Keiji Fukuda.

The wording of that story took many readers by surprise. It gave us pause, too. Finally we realized.

Health Spectator initially reported on June 25 that mathematical modeling by Lyn Finelli, an official with the CDC had projected that there might be one million swine flu infections in the U.S. at that time. So the AP and other sources are just trotting out this old figure. It does not represent a new set of figures released by any U.S. health officials, as the story seems to imply.

Surprisingly, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s swine flu tally for all 50 states plus the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands does not appear to have changed much since the last time we looked. This week, the CDC changed its normal schedule of updating the figures on Friday in honor of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices meeting yesterday. Yesterday’s figures, which are the final figure for the week, were effective as of 7:00 PM Thursday, June 25 EDT.

The U.S. is reporting 27,717 confirmed or probable swine flu cases with 127 deaths confirmed to be the result of swine flu. Wisconsin continues to lead the states with 4,273 cases reported and 4 deaths. Texas and Utah have 10 deaths apiece, while New York has 35, California 16, and Illinois has 12.

A story by AP reporter Michael Stobbe says one U.S. official has estimated that more than one million Americans may have become infected with the novel H1N1 swine flu at this point.

Stobbe attributes the estimate to Lyn Finelli, an official with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Finelli gave a presentation at a meeting of the vaccine advisory committee in Atlanta on Thursday. (more…)

As the “new” A(H1N1) swine flu spreads in the U.S., 13,217 cases are current in all 50 states plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. There were 27 U.S. deaths from the flu as of 11 am today, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta. At the time of our last report on U.S. fatalities a week ago, deaths totaled 15, with 48 states and Washington, DC claiming 8,975 infections.

That gives the U.S. an increase of 4,242 cases in one week, with 12 more dead over the same period—an 80% increase in deaths for a 47% increase in cases. (more…)

15 swine-flu deaths in U.S. as of May 29

According to Centers for Disease Control (CDC) data released at 11 am, Friday, May 29, the number of H1N1 (“swine flu”) cases in the U.S. is rapidly approaching the 10,000 mark. (see table) In fact, it likely will have reached that level by the time you read this, given the rate at which cases have increased over approximately the past week.

Meanwhile, health officials seem intent upon emphasizing the relatively mild symptoms of this so-called “new” or “novel” H1N1 influenza, as the CDC calls it. At the same time, the U.S. government has entered into a deal to acquire swine flu vaccine for persons it deems most worthy. (more…)

A Utah man who died today is the ninth U.S. victim

The worldwide death toll from swine flu had already reached 80 when a man who local officials said died of swine flu succumbed in Salt Lake City Wednesday. (more…)

Swine flu spreads; another American dies

Electron micrograph of swine flu virus.

Although present dangers from swine flu may be less severe than originally feared, victims continue to die from the disease as it spreads across the globe. The latest developments place new cases in Australia, China and Japan, while new deaths linked to the disease have occurred in Costa Rica, Mexico and the United States. A Washington state man was the third confirmed casualty (more…)