Copyright 2012, Written by Will Blesch

Apparently, those suffering from a Hepatitis C infection are prone to depression. This is a problem, especially considering the fact that a new study published in the International Journal of Interferon, Cytokine and Mediator Research, shows that interferon, a standard treatment for Hepatitis C infection, can actually BE a cause of depression.

Sounds lovely doesn’t it? You’ve got a Hepatitis C infection, and that by itself is enough to bring on true, clinical depression, and now we learn that one of the drugs  designed to fight the Hepatitis virus can cause depression too!

It seems if you’re infected with HCV, you are in for a triple whammy. Boom! You have a virus that can kill your liver. Boom! Depression is known to accompany HCV infection. Boom! One of the drugs meant to help you has depression as a side effect.

This is very heavy stuff.  Why?

Because, according to the researchers, suicide has become a major concern for those treating Hepatitis C patients. Any patient who has a personal or family history of mood disorders, depression, or suicidal thoughts “should be carefully interviewed and referred to a specialist for assessment of suicide risk and treatment of the underlying disorder before treatment with interferon can be considered.”

Obviously new, innovative drugs and treatments need to be developed. However,  right now there are some natural products on the market that claim to boost the immune system and help target the latent Hepatitis C virus without the side effects sported by interferon.

It’s been said that if you can lower the actual numbers of latent (dormant or sleeping) virus in your body, you won’t develop the symptoms of disease that active viruses can cause.

It’s pretty easy to do a google search on broad range, natural antivirals. As long as there are no side effects, what’s the harm in trying something natural? It might not cure you…but it sure won’t harm you either.

So what’s the risk?

References:

Depression and pegylated interferon-based hepatitis C treatment
Author: Papafragkakis H — Rao MS — Moehlen M — Dhillon S — Martin P Journal: International Journal of Interferon, Cytokine and Mediator Research Year: 2012 Vol: 2012

Copyright 2012, Written by Will Blesch

I’ve decided I’d like to take a break from focusing on HPV and other viral diseases and just talk about some general health concerns some people might have.

(Plus, I was getting a bit burned out on the whole HPV topic.)

With that in mind, I was browsing through various health news sources and I came across an Australian study which suggests that sitting around all day (11 hours or more cumulatively) whether in front of the television, or sitting in your car, or sitting at work, is extremely detrimental to your health.

According to this study, that was commissioned by the Cardiovascular Research Network and supported by the National Heart Foundation Australia’s NSW Division, it doesn’t even matter if you exercise in between sitting down. If you sit in total for more than 11 hours a day, the sitting is hurting you.

In fact, your risk of dying within three years goes up by more than 40%. That’s an incredible jump in risk of death, wouldn’t you agree?

It’s all about sedentary lifestyles, life habits, work habits, etc. It can lead to obesity as well as other health risks…especially in terms of risks to the health of your heart.  The study’s leader, Hidde van der Ploeg, said “Watching TV, using computers and electronic games can involve sitting for long periods and have become a big part of leisure time. But, we know that people who spend less time on these things have better health than those who spend too much time on them.”

What’s the verdict? Get up, move, stop sitting if you can. Decrease the amount of time you spend on your tuchus (Yiddish for your butt….).

How will you do that? Feel free to clue me in on YOUR action plan.

Copyright 2012, Written by Will Blesch

Well, dear readers my pause has actually been a little more than a month rather than a mere week.

However, I am back!

As promised, this posting will look at some of the more popular women’s magazines in the U.S. and their coverage of any issue concerning the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) over the course of 2011.

Here’s the top five: “Women’s Health Magazine”, “Cosmopolitan”, “O, the Oprah Magazine”, “Glamour” and “Self”.

With titles like, “Would He Get an HPV Vaccination to Protect You?,”all of them pretty much touted the government line without doing any kind of journalistic digging. (What does one expect from magazines that are mostly built around fluff?) All of them that is, except for O, the Oprah Magazine.

O, at least had some material that was more for the thinking woman. This magazine had titles like “The HPV vaccination debate” and “You Might Be Able to Skip Your Pap Smear This Year.”
What does this mean? Why does it matter?

It means that the government’s line regarding HPV infection is strong, it’s constant, and it infiltrates all kinds of media.

The marketing message is this:

There’s an HPV epidemic! Women all over the place COULD get cervical cancer, and now, boys too can get oral and anal cancers due to HPV! You need to prevent it NOW…with the HPV vaccine.

The fact of the matter is that they neglect to tell you that 90% or people with an HPV infection will clear that infection naturally with NO medical intervention of any kind.

Moreover, the HPV burden of disease is largely in the male, homosexual community (I’m not making this up, it comes directly from the CDC.)

And, finally, the HPV vaccine is incredibly limited in the protection it is supposed to provide!

Bottom line, intelligent women need to do some of their own digging and should never rely on popular, commercial magazines for their health info.

Copyright 2012, Written by Will Blesch

Dang! I didn’t realize this week would end up being so busy. It was actually a knockout though.

I know I promised an article talking about the leading Womens Health Magazines and what their coverage of the HPV vaccine, Gardasil (or Cervarix) was like over 2011. Sadly, my research is not complete. I have a ton of excuses…most of them legitimate.

However, I won’t bore you with the details except to say…I shot two commercials this past week and have been kept busy with some writing work for a particular client. The commercials are being edited now, and once they are complete I am sure I’ll have some links for anyone interested in seeing them.

(And hey…yeah you! If you think you might need some PR, commercial, or copywriting work done…listen, I do outstanding work. You should get in touch. Really. If I can fit you in to my schedule, I’m always looking to work with great, new people and companies!)

Anyway! Please bear with me, the article on Womens Health Magazines and their coverage during 2012 of the HPV vaccine IS coming as promised.

This is just a pause before the storm.

-Will

Copyright 2012, Written by Will Blesch

Hi folks! It’s Sunday and I’m back on the prowl. Actually, I am in the process of doing some research to find out just how many womens health magazines have been publishing stories on HPV infection. I’m also interested in learning what slant the publications take in terms of vaccine promotion.

Before I even get started, I have to say that I am, right now, fairly certain that most womens health magazines are going to tout the official, Merck Pharmaceuticals line regarding Gardasil. (They say it’s safe, effective, and prevents cervical cancer.) Ever since Gardasil was FDA approved on June 8^th, 2006 the majority of media in the U.S. have inundated the public with what amounts to free advertising for Merck.

Are those guys smart or what?

Anyway, while that’s my initial, pre-research opinion I’m really interested in finding out the truth about what information the major womens health magazines have published regarding HPV over the past year.

One thing I found out just before the weekend began though:

Merck acknowledged that in their controlled studies, a percentage of girls actually developed serious cervical lesions following Gardasil vaccination.  The vaccine seemed to cause the most lesions in girls with pre-existing HPV 16 or 18 infections, but also in girls who had no pre-existing HPV infections!

Reference:

Tomljenovic L and Shaw CA, Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Vaccine Policy and Evidence-Based Medicine:  Are They at Odds? Annals of Medicine December 22, 2011;

And these guys are still allowed to market the vaccine AT ALL? I think we live in what the Chinese would call, interesting times.

Feel free to leave me a comment or email me with your thoughts. Also feel free to take the shortened URL to this posting here:

http://bit.ly/A8GKWf

and share it on Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, and Google+

Copyright 2011, Written by Will Blesch

I just found out that Anna, the blogger who had challenged me yesterday is actually a blogger with Planned Parenthood: Advocates of Arizona.

I took a look at her blog found HERE…and noticed that she is posting supposed  facts which are facts, and facts which are…well…less than fact and more like outright misinformation. (I’m being charitable.)

I took a small selection from her posting on the HPV vaccine, Gardasil and that you can read in its entirety by clicking on the link above, and posted the REAL facts.

I’ve also cited my sources (which are authoritative by the way.)

Anna says:

“Myth: The HPV vaccine has caused death in some of its recipients.

Fact: While some people have died after receiving the vaccine, their deaths were not caused by it.”

Although she cites the CDC in this instance, she neglects to mention that while the CDC supposes that there is no relationship between HPV vaccination and these peoples’ deaths, a government watchdog group called Judicial Watch has uncovered 26 NEW deaths recorded by the FDA in relation to Gardasil vaccination between September 1, 2010 through September 15, 2011. You can read the entire report HERE:

Anna says: “Myth: There is human papillomavirus DNA in Gardasil.

Fact: Gardasil consists of empty protein shells. The infectious portions of HPV’s genetic code are not involved in its manufacture.”

She then cited sciencebasedmedicine.org which is apparently a blog maintained by a number of medically trained scientists. You can read the particular posting she cites HERE:

However, the blog she cited as well as her own posting are completely false!

Here’s what the FDA says (and although I myself am critical of the FDA, still I am sure most will consider the FDA more authoritative than a medical blog):

“The presence of DNA fragments is expected in Gardasil and not evidence of contamination.” And “Gardasil does contain recombinant HPV L1-specific DNA fragments, but these are not contaminants.” – FDA

You can read all the FDA’s info on DNA in the Gardasil vaccine HERE:

Thus, if you want to be factual, you must admit that Gardasil DOES contain rDNA (genetically engineered DNA) from the HPV virus.

• Myth: Cervical cancer is a relatively rare cancer whose rates have been declining for decades. Therefore, the vaccine is unnecessary.

Fact: Cervical cancer rates have been declining among women with access to Pap tests, but cervical cancer remains a leading cause of death in other parts of the world.”

Actually, The fact of the matter is that there are over 76,751,637 women in America. Only 12,000 will be diagnosed with cervical cancer, and of those, an estimated 4,000 will die.

That’s 0.02% (rounded up) diagnosed with cervical cancer. Of that number, 33.3% will die. That’s 0.005% of the numbers of HPV infected women in America.

Obviously, just one person dying is too many. However, you can see from the numbers that HPV caused cervical cancer deaths are extremely low.

Moreover, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) says:

“In 90% of cases, the body’s immune system clears HPV naturally within two years.” – CDC

So again, I ask you…why the crazed push for EVERY boy and girl to get the Gardasil shot? Re-read some of my other blog postings.

I think the answer is obvious.

Copyright 2012, Written by Will Blesch

Yesterday I was challenged on a number of issues by another blogger. I was accused of utilizing false and misleading statements, of being associated with a company that deals primarily in fraudulent, patented medicine (dietary supplements), and that has been soundly rejected by the FDA.

I’d like to post the blogger’s posting to me below and then set the record straight. (The blogger’s name is Anna.) I’d also like to provide some counter-arguments to those she presents.

So, without further ado, here is her comment:

“Do you think it might be hypocritical of you to insinuate that pharmaceutical companies are only in it for the money when you are affiliated with a company that claims its products can treat chronic viral infections such as HPV? After all, the company you’re affiliated with profits from chronic HPV infections that can be prevented by Gardasil. Even worse, it’s received special attention from the FDA for its fraudulent claims that are unsupported by any scientific evidence. I would be ashamed to be affiliated with predatory snake-oil peddlers like them.

In truth, I believe that valid claims should be able to stand on their own, regardless of who makes them, but to point your finger at Big Pharma when you’re affiliated with Big Supplement is more than a bit amusing to me.” – Anna

1. I am affiliated with polyDNA in that I write marketing copy for them. This is true.
2. polyDNA does claim that its products (specifically Gene-Eden-VIR) can help boost the immune system against the dormant (latent) HPV virus.

(For the record, the FDA states on its own website: “Some viruses…can enter a state known as latency in which the virus is not being replicated. In the latent state, the virus does not cause disease.”)

So if dormant viruses are not a disease, why bother with them?

Two reasons. First, because they can turn into active viruses, those that cause disease. Scientists call the awakening of the dormant virus “reactivation.”

Second, because they are genetic parasites.

According to Dr. Hanan Polansky, dormant viruses use scarce genetic resources, and as a result, can drive the human genes that need these genetic resources to malfunction.  In fact, according to Dr. Hanan Polansky’s highly acclaimed “Theory of Microcompetition” dormant viruses, in high concentration, are the cause of many major diseases, such as cancer, heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, and many more.

Scientists, biologists, virologists etc. are encouraged to read this theory which was published in 2003. (http://www.cbcd.net)

Some of those who have read the theory had this to say:

“Even if only a portion of the author’s thesis is correct, it would establish wholly new insights into the pathogenesis of chronic disease states, and would have significant implications for treatment and/or prevention.” – Kim E. Barrett, PhD – Professor of Medicine and Vice-Chair for Research, Department of Medicine, University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine

“Dr. Polansky’s book, Microcompetition with Foreign DNA and the Origin of Chronic Disease gives a chance for the reader to think in an unconventional way about the cause of chronic diseases … In my opinion, this book will be a valuable resource for medical research and drug design as well as for the field of targeted therapy of a wide variety of diseases, including cancer. I highly recommend this book to the entire scientific community.” – Tapan K. Bera, PhD – Staff Scientist, National Cancer Institute, NIH

There are many more quotes I could post, but I think you get the point.

3. Anna goes on to say, “After all, the company you’re affiliated with profits from chronic HPV infections that can be prevented by Gardasil.”

polyDNA does profit from sales of Gene-Eden-VIR. This is true. However, Gardasil has been shown to have worrying side effects, while Gene-Eden-VIR has had no reported side effects in over 3 years of being on the market.

While Gardasil purports to prevent certain HPV infections, the drug’s own website states: “GARDASIL may not fully protect everyone.” What does this mean? It means Gardasil is not 100% effective. It means Merck Pharmaceuticals simply does not have information on the long-term efficacy of its drug.

Moreover, Merck markets the Gardasil drug as a means of preventing cervical cancer as any cursory  google search can attest. You can even see Gardasil commercials on Youtube.com that make this claim:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJ8x3KR75fA

Yet, the peer reviewed medical journal, Annals of Medicine published a report on December 22, 2011 entitled “Human Virus (HPV) Vaccine Policy and Evidence Based Medicine” which stated: “

“clinical trials show no evidence that HPV vaccination can protect against cervical cancer.” – the entire abstract can be read here:

4. Anna goes on to say: “Even worse, it’s received special attention from the FDA for its fraudulent claims that are unsupported by any scientific evidence.”

The fact of the matter is that polyDNA did indeed receive a warning letter from the FDA, and the Gene-Eden product was placed on a list of products which the FDA said made fraudulent claims.

However, polyDNA is now in full compliance with the FDA. But, I must, again, take issue with the FDA’s claims of fraudulence. The FDA has not evaluated the Gene-Eden products in any capacity. Therefore they cannot legitimately say one way or the other that polyDNA’s claims are fraudulent. They simply do not have enough information to make that determination.

And again, the charge that polyDNA’s claims are unsupported by scientific evidence is simply false. As I requested above, scientists, biologists, virologists etc. are urged to read the literature located at http://www.cbcd.net in order to make a fully informed opinion.

5.  For those that believe double blind clinical trials and FDA approval are the gold standard and that anything else is fraudulent…I would like to point to particular cases where the major drug companies did EVERYTHING right. There were double blind clinical trials. There was FDA approval. And yet the drugs in question were later found to be actually CAUSING heart disease. You wanna talk about snake oil?

Please let me know if you have heard of Vioxx. For those die-hard believers among you, (like Anna it seems) in this case, the whole system of double blind clinical trials and FDA approval failed. The SYSTEM failed…not the execution. The scientists did everything by the book. There was no negligence involved.

Vioxx was the brand name. The actual drug was Rofecoxib, a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug. It was marketed by Merck & Co. (Same people who make and market Gardasil) to treat osteoarthritis, acute pain conditions, and dysmenorrhoea. Rofecoxib was approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on May 20, 1999, and was marketed under the brand names Vioxx, Ceoxx, and Ceeoxx.

This drug gained widespread acceptance among physicians treating patients with arthritis and other conditions causing chronic or acute pain. Worldwide, over 80 million people were prescribed rofecoxib at some time. – (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4054991 )

Merck withdrew the drug after disclosures that it withheld information about rofecoxib’s risks from doctors and patients for over five years, resulting in between 88,000 and 140,000 cases of serious heart disease. (Read the whole story here.)

So, let’s put things in perspective and stop with the hypocritical “Only FDA approved products are legitimate!” mantra. The FDA is not infallible. The major pharmaceuticals are not cuddly teddy bears that just want what’s best for the American (or international) consumer/patient.

The “hard science” apparently got Vioxx approved. But it still caused heart disease in hundreds of thousands of cases.

There are certainly snake oil salesmen out there. But, polyDNA and its researchers are not among them.

Copyright 2011, Written by Will Blesch

Dear All and Sundry,

Been away for a bit from the bloggosphere and may be away a bit longer, but I wanted everyone to know I shan’t be gone long. I should have a new posting of my own up in a day or two.

In the meantime, I felt that the following story merited being mentioned and so I’m linking to it.

It is entitled: HPV Vaccine Victim Sues Merck

It’s written by Dr. Mercola and again, you can visit the actual story by clicking on the link HERE.

With a growing number of girls and women reporting Multiple-sclerosis-like symptoms and neurological complications, including seizures, paralysis and speech problems following Gardasil vaccination…

It’s my personal belief that the sort of class action law suit described in this article should be replicated and filed here in the U.S.A post haste.

I also feel the FDA should be ashamed that it approved this vaccine in the first place. But then, when enough money is involved….

Copywrite 2011, Written by Will Blesch

It is amazing to me that the U.S. government should need to ask scientific journals not to publish details concerning experiments in which scientists mutated a deadly, but usually not transmissible flu virus into a highly transmissible form.

The research is under review for publication in the journal Science.

What is even more amazing is that scientists actually felt the need to conduct a dangerous experiment like this in the first place. How irresponsible can a group of people get? The supposed benefits do not outweigh the dangers…particularly when we live in an age where technology and information is somewhat easily come by and evil people have the means combined with the desire to come by it.

If a U.S. biosecurity panel had to ask that details of the experiments be kept secret for security reasons, one should ask if the experiments were necessary to begin with.

Scientists said: “In the laboratory, it was possible to change H5N1 into an aerosol transmissible virus that can easily be rapidly spread through the air. This process could also take place in a natural setting.”

Basically, scientists didn’t want to wait around and see if the natural bird flu virus would mutate on its own.

Instead, they wanted to beat nature to the punch supposedly in order to develop a treatment in case the virus ever does mutate into transmissible, aerosol form.

The question is, who says that the virus actually would mutate into such a form. Just because it “might” doesn’t mean that it will. More to the point, even if it did mutate into a transmissible, aerosol form…who says that form would be exactly like that engineered by these scientists?

Now, they have to protect their work so that crazy freaks won’t get their hands on the data.

To paraphrase Jeff Goldblum in Jurassic Park,… “Just because you can genetically engineer something doesn’t mean you should.”

Copywrite 2011, Written by Will Blesch

Some very interesting things are happening when it comes to Hepatitis C Remedies.

Four different, large pharmaceutical companies have paired up to develop new treatments for those suffering from a Hepatitis C infection. All four companies put out press releases just this month, so this is an exciting time for those interested in antiviral research. (Like me.)

According to Hepatitis Central there is now  “a collaboration between pharma giants Bristol-Myers Squibb and Tibotec … to investigate Daclatasvir plus TMC435 against Hepatitis C (HCV)genotype 1.”

Also this month, Canadian pharmaceutical company, Vertex and U.S. biotechnology company, Alios BioPharma teamed up to develop all oral regimens for the treatment of Hepatitis C.

In 2011 the World Health Organization (WHO) reported that approximately 170 million people worldwide (17 per cent of the world population) are infected with hepatitis C virus. About 80 % of the newly infected people develop chronic infection.

When someone is diagnosed with a Hepatitis infection, or if they are waiting on a diagnosis, that person may feel very anxious. They may doubt their future, their health, or themselves.

While there is a safe and effective vaccine for Hepatitis B, there remains no cure for Hepatitis C.

Because of health scares and images of patients with extreme tiredness, weakness, loss of appetite, swollen stomachs, and people with bruises all over their yellowed skin…many people with a Hepatitis infection imagine themselves ending up in a hospice or nursing home with no hope, and no future.

This is a subject that is near to me since my ex’s dad actually died of cirrhosis of the liver due to an HCV infection. That’s why I am in full support of biotechnology companies that pursue scientific, Hepatitis C remedies.

Considering the fact that in 2004, the FDA came out with a new category of drugs called “Botanical Drugs,” (a product that is used as a drug and that contains as ingredients vegetable materials, which may include plant materials, algae, macroscopic fungi, or combinations thereof. Botanical drug products may be available as (but are not limited to) solutions (e.g., teas), powders, tablets, capsules, elixirs, topicals, or injectables. – Center for Drug Evaluation and Research) new methods for fighting the Hepatitis virus should be explored.

By that, I mean that drugs that can be described as natural, or deriving from a plant source rather that chemically manufactured, should be researched and examined closely.

I don’t think that any of the above mentioned companies are developing botanical drugs, but I am still intrigued by the fact that these large pharmaceuticals are teaming up the way they are. I just personally wish that more pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies were working towards a natural, yet clinically effective Hepatitis remedy.

I know of only three companies that are working on botanical drugs at the moment. They are: BD Corp (Botanical Drug Corporation), PurGenesis Technology, and polyDNA.

Let’s wait and see what patented products they come out with, and whether any of them will end up FDA approved.