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LongLifeClub

I created to LongLifeClub for people who want to live a longer, healthier life. Topics include nutrition, fitness, medicine, supplements, health politics, environmental issues as they relate to health, lifestyle, medical breakthroughs, genetics, etc.

Just Hang Up on TelemarketersMay 22 2007

Telemarketing fraud has become an International scourge of staggering proportions. It operates out of back rooms in remote areas of the world where is difficult to track, uses sophisticated technology, and thrives in part thanks to the complicity of otherwise legitimate corporations, including some of the world’s largest banks.

We have known for years that crafty scam artists target older Americans and in spite of the “do not call” registry, the cancerous growth of telemarketing and its criminal underbelly has continued unabated.   According to the Direct Marketing Association, callers selling insurance plans, subscriptions, precooked meals, etc., racked up $177 billion in sales in 2006--$4.5 billion more than they sold the year before “do-not-call” took effect.

Millions of people age 60 and older have been victimized by telemarketers who sell them phony insurance polices, get them to donate to nonexistent charities and much worse. Posing as government workers or pharmacy employees, criminals will tell you that Social Security Administration computers have crashed or that your prescription records are incomplete and that payments or prescriptions will be delayed unless you provide your banking

Got Melamine?May 2 2007

The government doesn’t want to tell you this, but the odds are fairly good at one time or another you’ve eaten a poisonous substance called "melamine."

Melamine is an organic molecule that is extracted from oil or coal and then used as one of the ingredients for making plastic. It is found in plastic plates, counter-tops and even in children’s erasers (a darn good reason to tell your kids or grandchildren to not put erasers in their mouths).

So, what's the big deal you may wonder.

The big deal is a bunch of criminals in China (both inside and outside their corrupt government) have been buying up ground-up melamine scraps from plastic-making factories to add it into grains and byproducts, including the sticky wheat glutens used to thicken soups or help bread rise.

They have also, by the way, been putting it into pet food and into the food used to feed chickens and hogs.  If you read the newspaper or watch TV news, you already know the consequences of this.

You see, melamine is a fake protein—no nutritional value whatsoever but much, much cheaper than the real thing.  When wheat gluten buyers, for instance, test for protein content, the test they use measures the density o

FDA Cleans up It's Act (Sort of)March 24 2007

Tell me it's just a dream--the FDA, our marvelous government watchdog, has issued a new rule that members of drug approval advisory boards can't rule on drugs from companies that pay them more than $50,000. 

Up to now, apparently, there were no limits.  According to The New York Times 10 of the 32 advisors who voted in 2005 to allow the painkiller Bextra to remain on the market and the painkiller Vioxx to return despite huge safety problems had taken money from the drug companies.  At the end of the day these recommendations (thank GOD!) weren't followed, but the votes of these advisory committees can have tremendous influence.

Of course, if you read into the fine, fine print of this new regulation you'll discover the FDA can waive this obvious conflict of interest in individual situations if it wants to and I suspect very much that it will indeed do this.  You see, it is all a ploy--the FDA is only trying to head off new legislation by the democratically controlled congress which will be much more stringent. 

While the agency has long been defensive about its process for selecting expert advisers, under the Bush regime, things have evolved from the realms of dubious ethics to outright banditry as our government's primary

The Worldwide Anti-Vaccine ConspiracyFebruary 20 2007

Doctor Abdul Ghani Khan was on a mission.  A high official in the health ministry, he recently traveled to Pakistan's dangerous North-West Waristan Province to convince Bajaur tribal members to allow their children to be vaccinated against polio.  Over 160,000 Pakistani children are vulnerable to the disease because reactionary mullahs believe polio shots are being used by the United States to sterilize the population.

Thanks to this stupid paranoia, Pakistan is one of only four polio endemic countries in the whole world.  Last year, their were 39 cases in the country and medical experts fear a much bigger epidemic is on the way.

Dr. Ghani thought he had had a successful meeting with tribal leaders and was optimistic that they would allow his program to go forward.  On his return trip, however, he ran into a little snag--a roadside bomb blew him to kingdom come.

No big surprise, other Pakistani health officials are now refusing to participate in the vaccination program.

Meanwhile, right here at home in the good ole "US of A" we have our own religious ignoramuses who are trying to prevent the inoculation of young girls against the sexually transmitted virus that causes ce

How Fat is Your Dog?January 10 2007

In my college days, particularly when cramming for finals, I had to read so much I often found myself reading in my sleep. My dreams consisted of words flowing in front of my eyes much like a teleprompter.

Just recently I thought I was having those dreams again—I thought I had dreamt I was reading a newspaper and the article was about the F.D.A. approving a diet drug for dogs. 

Tell me, dear readers, it was just a dream. Pfizer hasn’t really developed a “prescription” drug with the stupid name “Slentrol” that suppresses the appetite’s of your obese canine. Say it aint’ so.

I had to go out my back door to dig yesterday’s newspaper out of the recycle bin before believing that this was for real. Upon a second reading I learned there are 65 million dogs in the United States and 40% are fat.  That's 26 million fat dogs!

I wanted to stand on the back porch and scream out, “Dogs don't have can openers--they can't open up the refrigerator.  It's