Sunday, November 13, 2005

60 Minutes exposes Australian Health Fraud

The lack of regulation that allows the Australian Health Fraud Industry to prosper in Australia was the lead story tonight on 60 Minutes. Among the people featured on the show was Naturopath Jeffrey Dummett, who has featured on this blog with the death of a man he had placed on a de-tox diet.

The story showed the stark reality of the health fraud industry. The main danger in taking the compounds and treatments of your local naturopath, herbalist, homeopath is not in the treatment itself, but the fact that you are delaying real treatment. When it comes to cancer, this delay can be death sentence.

We can only hope that the program opens the eyes of the general public to alert them to the dangers of using SCAM. With the large number of viewers, now is the time to mobilise the public to demand the government act. Australia is still a county where you can have no license, no education, no training and no idea, yet still practice as an alternative medicine practitioner.

"There is only one truth. How we interpret that truth is called belief."
"The existence of belief does not indicate the prescence of truth"

Sunday, November 06, 2005

Water more deadly than fluoride

The recent death in the US from a college initiation prank was a tragic waste of a human life. In order to fit in with the group, the 21 year old student was subjected to a quiz, where the penalty for getting the answer wrong was to drink large amounts of water and exercise.

The student is suspected to have died from a hyponatremia. The high amount of liquids, dilute the level of essential electrolytes in the body causing organ failure. Excess fluid consumption can also cause the brain to swell, which can also cause death.

In the recent case, the exact amount of liquid consumed is not known. There were 2 people involved and the 114 litres (30 gallons) water was doused on them as well as consumed. With this information, it is likely that less than 20 litres was consumed.

With the recent anti-fluoride debate in the Queensland media, I'm left wondering. If 20 litres is enough water to cause death, then how is a 75kg individual supposed to consume the 69,975 litres of fluoridated water required to ingest a lethal dose of fluoride?

"There is only one truth. How we interpret that truth is called belief."
"The existence of belief does not indicate the prescence of truth"