Some of the articles featured in this issue discuss sugar
metabolism and diabetes, Lichen Planus and its phytomedical treatment,
induction of labour in pregnant women and what we can do to transform
our lives and the planet.
www.positivehealth.com/article/skincare/lichen-planus-a-disease-profile
www.positivehealth.com/article/diabetes/ayden-byle-canadian-diabetic-athlete
www.positivehealth.com/article/nutrition/the-sugar-solution
www.positivehealth.com/article/women-s-health/induction-of-labour-the-dilemma-for-complementary-therapists-working-with-pregnant-clients
www.positivehealth.com/article/environmental/three-things-that-you-can-do-to-transform-the-planet-and-your-life
Away from the articles are equally important content: Letters,
Research Updates and Book Reviews. A letter in this issue by Dr Brian
Isbell PhD BSc DO MRN and Nicky Howard-Kemp BSc RS Hom describe the cuts
which are being made at University of Westminster:
www.positivehealth.com/article/letters-to-the-editor/letters-to-the-editor-issue-184
“An extensive review of provision at the
University of Westminster has been completed to ensure courses continue
to meet the needs of practitioners, CAM professions as well as adapt to
the current financial constraints. The introduction of full cost tuition
fees in 2012 on top of the recent Government reductions in funding have
led Universities to scrutinise viability of all their activities. With
their requirement for clinical training and high levels of staffing,
most university CAM courses are under severe pressure…
Three Years of Cuts
“Since September 2008, a third of the
undergraduate student intake has been lost due to the previous
Government's introduction of Equivalent and Lower Qualification (ELQ)
legislation, which means that a graduate applicant has to pay full cost
fees (in the order of £9,000/year) to complete a second undergraduate
degree… On top of the cuts described above, as with other courses
categorized as 'Anatomy and Physiology', the Funding Council has reduced
the financing of courses by about 20%. Therefore, in total over the
past 3 years, the loss of students and reduced funding has led to a 50%
decrease in income… The essential recent review of the University's
provision has concluded that it will be necessary, after this year's
intake, to suspend its BSc Nutritional Therapy and Naturopathy courses
from September 2012. …a new portfolio of postgraduate courses - four
new MSc courses – has been developed at the University that builds on
all the years of experience of providing the BSc Complementary Medicine
Scheme.”
Some people might look at certain articles in Positive Health
PH Online as being promotional, as many authors are practitioners or
experts in their field. My remit when commissioning authors is for them
to write articles which are authoritative and informative to
professional and general readers alike. As we all have to live in the
real world and pay our bills, unless being fabulously wealthy, which
most of us are not, it is virtually impossible to not have at least a
smidgen of self-interest in most articles.
I was attacked by journalist Duncan Campbell in 1989 in one of his articles about Organic Germanium entitled Pretty Poison,
in which the use of inorganic germanium, the type used in transistors,
resulted in cases of renal toxicity in Korea. He was not able to reach
me at the time to interview me, not surprisingly since I was doing
research at Bastyr College in Seattle USA. So in the absence of my
non-availability and my publishers (Thorsons, now Harper Collins) not
being in contact with me, Campbell, in this article, insinuated that I
had fled the country and also accused me of being paid for my work about
germanium. I had been commissioned to compile research about organic
germanium and from this work, for which I was paid, as would be
expected, I published a journal article titled Therapeutic Effects of
Organic Germanium in Medical Hypothesis: 26: 207-15. 1988 and also a book published by Thorsons entitled Organic Germanium – The Health and Life Enhancer. Thorsons.1988.
Over 20 years have passed since that time and the assault on natural medicine described in Martin Walker’s book Dirty Medicine,
which covered just about everybody involved in Complementary and
Alternative Medicine in the UK: The Bristol Cancer Help Centre, Dr
Stephen Davies, Dr Jacques Benveniste, Patrick Holford, Dr Jean Monro,
Belinda Barnes, Robert Woodward, Positively Healthy, myself [Sandra
Goodman], as I had been involved in attempting to put together a
clinical trial to test the potential efficacy of organic germanium in
HIV / AIDS, and many others.
Martin Walker’s new book Dirty Medicine The Handbook continues on from Dirty Medicine, HRT: Licensed to Kill and Maim, Cultural Dwarfs and Junk Journalism, With Extreme Prejudice
and brings us up to date, this time naming individuals (many of the
great and the good in science, medicine and the media), websites,
corporations and institutions which are at the centre of our nation, and
funding links behind campaigns which have attacked and discredited
individuals and natural healthcare approaches, especially homeopathy,
vaccination and sufferers of chronic fatigue syndrome – cfs /me. Martin
Walker’s genius lies in his detailed research and the myriads of
footnotes revealing little-known tidbits of vital information.
I have been shocked by the information revealed in The Handbook,
despite my being a victim and having been witness to many of the major
principals for over 20 years. The book is reviewed by Jonathan Lawrence
in this issue, and I have started to blog about it as well. I hope to
publish another review, mentioning more of the political analysis and
links, which are not as well known to me as the figures in the
complementary and alternative medicine world.
www.positivehealth.com/review/dirty-medicine-the-handbook
www.drsgoodman.com/blog-goodman
The perspective of history is invaluable, and so is our commitment to
carry on the good fight for natural healthcare approaches, as part of
our role in defending ourselves against more toxic and iatrogenic
treatments.