Health Issues
OCA's Health Resource and Action Center
Big Ag and Big Pharma are interested in profit, not public health, and their lobbyists fight to protect their corporate interests, not consumer interests. OCA advocates for a sustainable, integrative healthcare system with an emphasis on prevention, nutrition, wellness promotion, and freedom of choice in healthcare for everyone.
News
June 21, 2006
The World Health Organization has concluded that human-to-human transmission likely occurred among seven relatives who developed bird flu in Indonesia.
In a report obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press, WHO experts said the cluster's index case was probably infected by sick birds and spread the disease to six family members. One of those cases, a boy, then likely infected his father, it said.
The U.N. agency stressed the virus has not mutated and that no cases were detected beyond the family.
Seven of the eight relatives died last month, but one was Read more
In a report obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press, WHO experts said the cluster's index case was probably infected by sick birds and spread the disease to six family members. One of those cases, a boy, then likely infected his father, it said.
The U.N. agency stressed the virus has not mutated and that no cases were detected beyond the family.
Seven of the eight relatives died last month, but one was Read more
News
June 21, 2006
Mike: I am joined today by author Randall Fitzgerald, the author of "The Hundred-Year Lie: How Food and Medicine are Destroying Your Health," a groundbreaking new book that you would do well to pick up and read. Thanks for joining me today, Randall.
Randall Fitzgerald: Well thank you Mike. It is a real pleasure and honor to be with you.
Mike: Likewise. Your book was sent to me recently. I began reading it and was absolutely amazed at how well you explain the threats -- to our health, our way of life and even our future -- that are posed by the use of synthetic chemicals Read more
Randall Fitzgerald: Well thank you Mike. It is a real pleasure and honor to be with you.
Mike: Likewise. Your book was sent to me recently. I began reading it and was absolutely amazed at how well you explain the threats -- to our health, our way of life and even our future -- that are posed by the use of synthetic chemicals Read more
News
June 20, 2006
We all want a "quick fix" for disorders like high cholesterol, it seems. We want to be able to eat all the pizza and cheeseburgers we want and then take a magic pill so all the LDL cholesterol running through our bloodstream just disappears. No matter what the statin drug commercials tell you, there is no "magic pill" solution for high cholesterol. Despite the mainstream media's portrayal of statin drugs like Lescol (fluvastatin) as near-miraculous, cholesterol-lowering medications like Lescol and other statins are nevertheless drugs with side effects. Don't be fooled by the hype -- you don't Read more
News
June 19, 2006
Web Note: Millions Chinese people and tens of thousands of North Americans and Europeans practice the ancient art of Qigong. This meditative exercise teaches students to control their reactions to stress, which lowers their risk of high blood pressure, frustration and anxiety. Read today's NewsTarget feature to learn four simple Qigong exercises and discover how Qigong can enhance your life energy.
We all live in a field of energy. Scientists, as well as spiritualists, know this, yet most of us don't realize it in our day-to-day lives. "Like a fish in water or a bird in Read more
We all live in a field of energy. Scientists, as well as spiritualists, know this, yet most of us don't realize it in our day-to-day lives. "Like a fish in water or a bird in Read more
News
June 15, 2006
Do you want to know what happens when a government that cares nothing about the people gets put in charge of administering a drug benefit program? You get an unmitigated disaster, and that's what we're seeing today with the Medicare prescription drug benefit program. This program, which is just legalized theft from one group of American taxpayers to another group of American consumers (mostly the elderly), originally promised to give people discounts on prescription drugs.
The program was supposed to cost "only" a couple hundred billion dollars. It turns out that, as usual, the Read more
The program was supposed to cost "only" a couple hundred billion dollars. It turns out that, as usual, the Read more
News
June 14, 2006
Headaches, bloating, irritability, depression and fatigue are just a few of the unpleasant symptoms of premenstrual syndrome, which affects millions of women every month. But fortunately, PMS -- though widely believed to be a result of changes in hormone levels during a woman's menstrual cycle -- is not entirely beyond a woman's control. Research shows that diet and nutrition play a significant role in the severity of PMS symptoms, and many women could ease their monthly bouts with discomfort simply by changing their diets or taking nutritional supplements.
Western society has Read more
Western society has Read more
Scientific Study
Drinking coffee seems to protect alcohol drinkers from liver disease, a new study suggests. (Read the full study here)
Every daily cup of coffee reduced the incidence of cirrhosis, a condition that destroys liver tissue, by 22 percent, according to researchers at the Kaiser Permanente Medical Care Program, in Oakland, Calif.
However, Dr. Arthur L. Klatsky, the leader of the study and an associate in Kaiser Permanente's research division, said the results "should not be interpreted Read more
Every daily cup of coffee reduced the incidence of cirrhosis, a condition that destroys liver tissue, by 22 percent, according to researchers at the Kaiser Permanente Medical Care Program, in Oakland, Calif.
However, Dr. Arthur L. Klatsky, the leader of the study and an associate in Kaiser Permanente's research division, said the results "should not be interpreted Read more
News
June 12, 2006
Seattle, WA -- The Environmental Protection Agency has announced that it will phase out the use of a pesticide that poisons farmworkers. EPA took the action after as part of a settlement of a lawsuit brought by farmworkers challenging EPA's decision to allow continued use of this pesticide.
"This pesticide has put thousands of workers at risk of serious illness every year," said Erik Nicholson of the United Farmworkers of America. "The phase out is welcome, although it should have come years ago."
The pesticide, azinphos-methyl ("AZM"), is a highly toxic organophosphate Read more
"This pesticide has put thousands of workers at risk of serious illness every year," said Erik Nicholson of the United Farmworkers of America. "The phase out is welcome, although it should have come years ago."
The pesticide, azinphos-methyl ("AZM"), is a highly toxic organophosphate Read more
News
June 10, 2006
JAKARTA, June 10 (Xinhua) -- Human-to-human transmission of bird flu probably occurred in Indonesia's seven cluster cases, a minister said. But he ruled out a pandemic of H5N1 across the archipelago.
"Limited human-to-human transmission may have occurred in small clusters in the country. It has not only happened in several regions in Indonesia but also in Azerbaijan and other places in the world," Coordinating Minister for the People's Welfare Aburizal Bakrie said Friday after a meeting with agencies involved in curbing the spread of the disease.
Other health officials, Read more
"Limited human-to-human transmission may have occurred in small clusters in the country. It has not only happened in several regions in Indonesia but also in Azerbaijan and other places in the world," Coordinating Minister for the People's Welfare Aburizal Bakrie said Friday after a meeting with agencies involved in curbing the spread of the disease.
Other health officials, Read more
News
June 9, 2006
The Body Hunters: How the Drug Industry Tests Its Products On the World's Poorest Patients <http://alternet.bookswelike.net/isbn/1565849124 (New Press)
A newly surfaced report alleges that in 1996, drug monolith Pfizer gave an unproven drug to Nigerian children and infants suffering from meningitis -- without the authorization of the Nigerian government. Completed five years ago and coming to light in a May 7 Washington Post investigation < Read more
A newly surfaced report alleges that in 1996, drug monolith Pfizer gave an unproven drug to Nigerian children and infants suffering from meningitis -- without the authorization of the Nigerian government. Completed five years ago and coming to light in a May 7 Washington Post investigation < Read more
Pages
for Health IssuesDownloads
Videos
Scientific Studies
