Free Republic

The Biden administration keeps poking the Russian bear about Ukraine. And Russia and China are teamed up together (in spite of some differences in objectives). Therefore, if we wind up confronting Russia over Ukraine, I would expect China to help Russia. And they could do that by cutting off our supply of medicine. Professor David Jacobsen is an expert on China. He teaches at the Cox School of Business at the Southern Methodist University. According to Professor Jacobsen, the United States has given China the control of our pharmaceuticals. He said, “China controls almost 100% of the generic medications that...

Tanzania’s government is working with U.S. logistics company Zipline to launch what they call the world’s largest drone delivery service for emergency medical supplies. In the first quarter of 2018, Tanzania’s government will begin using drones to make up to 2,000 deliveries per day to more than 1,000 health facilities, Zipline said in a statement Thursday. The service will be crucial in times of unexpected demand or bad weather and for small but critical orders, said Laurean Bwanakunu, director-general of Tanzania’s national medical stores. Since October 2016, Zipline has been operating a similar drone delivery service in Rwanda for emergency...

Folks, let's be clear: Autism is almost-certainly not caused by vaccines. Let's remember the first rule of observational studies, which incidentally I was surprised to find a few years ago in my daughter's High School intro-to-stats class: Observational studies can only show correlation and correlation cannot prove causation. However, the absence of correlation is damn near bomb-proof evidence that the alleged cause you believe exists is false. Measles vaccination in the US began in 1963 following approval in 1962. Within five years near-complete compliance was obtained within the US. MMR, the combined vaccine that people like to blame autism on,...

Regular readers of this column are aware that I am no fan of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Let’s examine the agency’s official mission… Here’s the first paragraph: “FDA is responsible for protecting the public health by assuring the safety, efficacy and security of human and veterinary drugs, biological products, medical devices, our nation’s food supply, cosmetics, and products that emit radiation.” Good stuff. But now, take a look at the second paragraph: “FDA is also responsible for advancing the public health by helping to speed innovations that make medicines more effective, safer, and more affordable and by helping...

The UK government announced Thursday in its official response to the Health Select Committee’s report on the future role of the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, that the agency will take responsibility for determining the full value of all drugs when a new pricing system is implemented in 2014.

A first-aid kit found on a 2,000-year-old shipwreck has provided a remarkable insight into the medicines concocted by ancient physicians to cure sailors of dysentery and other ailments. A wooden chest discovered on board the vessel contained pills made of ground-up vegetables, herbs and plants such as celery, onions, carrots, cabbage, alfalfa and chestnuts – all ingredients referred to in classical medical texts. The tablets, which were so well sealed that they miraculously survived being under water for more than two millennia, also contain extracts of parsley, nasturtium, radish, yarrow and hibiscus. They were found in 136 tin-lined wooden vials...

An anonymous email making the cyberspace rounds is so upsetting that its author was correct to hide his name. The “Changes Are Coming” email details the demise of our post office, our newspapers, check writing systems, books and music as we know them along with the end of Cable TV and network systems as now constituted. But the harshest caveat bearing down on America is our demise due to deindustrialization. The email reports that “Tens of thousands of factories have left the U.S. in the past decade alone. Millions upon millions of manufacturing jobs have been lost. . .the U.S....

Which do you think is less expensive, not to mention preferable: a cure for cancer, Alzheimer's disease and diabetes, or caring for people with these diseases? Wouldn't it be better medical and public policy to direct more resources toward finding a cure for diseases that cost a lot to treat than to rely on a government insurance program, such as Obamacare, which seeks mainly to help pay the bills for people after they become ill? Isn't the answer obvious? Apparently not to many politicians trapped in an old paradigm that focuses too much on hospitals, doctors and medicines and too...

We received a letter today from the American Fidelity Assurance Company, the company that handles our Flex and Section 125 Account for our Unreimbursed Medical Expenses, notifying us of changes to take place due to the "Affordable Care Act": "Effective January 1, 2011, in order to be reimbursed for over-the-counter drugs and medicines, the participant must provide a medical practitioner's prescription for the items." The letter goes on to detail all the information that must be included in the prescription the doctor must now write for every single over-the-counter medication the participant wishes to submit for reimbursement. In addition to...

One more item added to what candidate Obama said on the campaign trail about prescription drugs (see bolded paragraph) and what President Obama who cut a deal with drug companies has to say. No wonder Obama's poll numbers are falling so rapidly as he continues to do a 180 from what he said on the campaign trail. When we first heard about Obama's ties to radicals like Communist Frank Davis who was his mentor, Bill Ayers, Bernadine Dohrn, Louis Farrakhan, and others we suspected he would lurch to the left if he was elected. That said, his lurch to the...

Dutch researcher Saskia Lindhoud has discovered a new way to package enzymes by causing charged polymers to form a 'ball of hair' around them. Her approach significantly increases the utility of the enzymes. For example, healthy enzymes with a foul taste can be packaged in such a way that they are released in the stomach without being tasted...

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan will not import medicines from Denmark and other European countries to protest the publication of the caricatures of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) in their newspapers, Federal Health Minister Muhammad Nasir Khan told the Senate on Friday. This is for the first time that a minister officially announced ban on the import of any product from countries that hurt the religious sentiments of Muslims. “Muslims from Morocco to Indonesia are hurt. We cannot accept this nonsense,” the minister responded to a query put by Kamil Ali Agha. He admitted that some big pharmaceutical companies had bribed doctors...

The New York Times may be one of the most anti-Israel newspapers this side of any Arab media. Thursday, December 30th the NYT front page is correctly filled with columns and photos showing the effects of the South Asian mega-disaster. But, just turn the page and there is an article more than a third of page 3 speaking about some antiquity forgers in Israel. However, the NYT hasn’t written a word about Israel’s generous offers of aid to the Muslim communities that were devastated in the Sunday, December 26th 9.0 earthquake and resulting tsunamis that washed away whole villages. The...

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20041202/D86NNES00.html

American Seniors Buy Cheaper Medicines In Canada Group Hopes To Send Political Statement POSTED: 10:44 pm EDT October 14, 2004 UPDATED: 12:48 am EDT October 15, 2004 TORONTO -- A train dubbed the "RX Express" has arrived in Toronto. COST IN CANADA It's carrying Americans seeking to stock up on cheaper Canadian prescriptions. They also hope to send a political statement to federal regulators and lawmakers. The trip -- which originated in Florida -- was organized by the Foundation for Taxpayer Consumer Rights. Founder Jerry Flannagman says the point of the trip is to bring about a change in U.S....

BARTOW, Fla., Sept. 2 — Paula Burcham ran the kind of day care working mothers dream about.Her house was immaculate, the meals for the children were home cooked. Kids would line up to get a hug from “Mama Paula.” BUT THE FAMILIES who trusted Burcham didn’t know she was giving over-the-counter medicines to their children without their permission. Now they suspect she was using the drugs to sedate cranky little ones. On August 15, Burcham was sentenced to eight years in prison for giving a 3 1/2-month-old girl a lethal dose of Benadryl to quiet her. And in the 20...

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Throughout the years of U.N. economic sanctions against Iraq, Saddam Hussein's government was quick to bring foreign reporters and peace delegations to see the dying patients at Saddam Children's Hospital. Most of the youngsters had leukemia, said the hospital's chief, and all the leukemia patients died. The government blamed the sanctions after the 1991 Persian Gulf War, using the hospital and its patients as an example of how the West — in particular the United States — allowed children to die. But now, after the U.S.-led war in Iraq that ousted Saddam, hospital staff members said the...