What a world we live in today, being inundated, even assaulted with endless scandals of sexual impropriety by politicians, priests and popular media figures. As if it is not enough to be assailed nightly by bad economic forecasts, pointless murders and killings at home and abroad, and the hideous, shocking wars being played out across so many corners of the globe.

No matter how many years I have been Editor of Positive Health PH Online - about 19 years and 201 issues - there is nothing that brings home more clearly the stark reality of illness, particularly cancer, than when people I know and have been helping to locate research or physicians, inform me that their or their loved one’s prognosis is now ‘terminal’.

As we edge toward Issue 200 of Positive Health PH Online - Issue 198 - I can report that as usual, there are events of Alternative / Complementary / Natural Medicine prompting dramatic, urgent actions, such as the current ban by the UK medicines regulator, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) that Echinacea should not be taken by children under 12 years of age because of an association with a “low risk of allergic reactions”. www.positivehealth.com/article/letters-to-the-editor/letters-to-the-editor-issue-198

Welcome to 2013 and the Feb Issue 203 of Positive Health PH Online - our 19^th year of publication!!  www.positivehealth.com/issue/issue-203-february-2013

I say this every issue that there are a selection of superb and thought-provoking editorial features which are highly original and informative. However it is true for Feb Issue 203 and you should require no further prompting to immerse yourself in these pearls of wisdom:

It seems unbelievable that here we are with Issue 200 of Positive Health PH Online. The launch of PH was inspired by a suggestion from my partner and co-director Mike Howell while I was building the Cancer and Nutrition database for the Bristol Cancer Help Centre in 1993.

The longer I work in the field of publishing medical health information - both natural and conventional treatment approaches, the more I feel as though I live in a warped universe. On the one hand, much progress in the understanding of diagnosis and treatment approaches is reassuring and appears to point to a bright future of better health for all of us. On the other hand, however, is the constant back and forth battles between the staunch protectionist die-hards of the status quo, generally pharmaceutically driven treatments, i.e. drugs, and the natural health-oriented community who obtain their clinical results using traditional, complementary or alternative treatment approaches. The battles rage on with proponents of both extremes steadfast in their rectitude regarding their positions.