TV News LIES

Here's what the scientists at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute found (and here's why this matters in a huge way to people interested in healthy living):

• It takes 11.7 years for one mutation in a pancreas cell to grow into a "mature" pancreatic tumor (which might show up on a medical scan)
• It takes another 6.8 years for the pancreatic tumor to spread and cause tumors to appear in other organs of the body.
• In all, it takes about 20 years for a person to grow a cancer tumor and see it spread to the point where their doctor will diagnose them with pancreatic cancer.
• In other words, by the time doctors diagnose you with cancer, you've already been growing it for two decades.

There's more bad news for those hoping for new drugs to help fight the obesity epidemic: The Food and Drug Administration has refused to approve yet another new diet pill. The agency sent a letter to the drugmaker raising a variety of concerns about Qnexa, according to Vivus Inc., of Mountain View, Calif., which had sought the drug's approval. The letter does not bode well for the drug winning approval.

The move was expected, given that an FDA advisory panel had voted against the drug's approval in July because of evidence it may have adverse side effects, including increasing the risks for birth defects during pregnancy.

According to Californians for Green Dentistry, “The mercury implanted into the teeth of unsuspecting patients ultimately ends up back in our environment: (1) in our water via dental clinic releases and household toilets; (2) in our air via cremation, sludge incineration, dental clinic emissions, and human respiration; and (3) in our land via landfills, burials, and fertilizer.”

Dr. Rota went on to say that the diseases which result from the mercury toxicity are not diagnosed by the dentist. They are diagnosed by the physician. Except in acute toxicity cases, when a patient has a conventional blood or urine test, chronic mercury will not be found, as it is trapped in the tissues, and not detected in blood or urine. It wasn’t until chelating agents were developed that enabled the physician to measure and release the mercury.

The Food and Drug Administration has been eying the safety of caffeinated alcoholic drinks like Four Loko, which reportedly sent nine students at Central Washington University to the hospital. The FDA warned manufacturers last November about the safety and legality of the drinks.

"The increasing popularity of consumption of caffeinated alcoholic beverages by college students and reports of potential health and safety issues necessitates that we look seriously at the scientific evidence as soon as possible," Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, principal deputy commissioner of food and drugs, said in a statement at the time.

Federal prosecutors in Massachusetts say British drug maker GlaxoSmithKline PLC will pay $750 million to settle allegations that its subsidiary manufactured and sold adulterated drugs, including the popular antidepressant Paxil.

U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz on Tuesday announced that GlaxoSmithKline has agreed to settle civil and criminal charges related to the subsidiary in Puerto Rico. Ortiz said the London-based company will pay $150 million in criminal fines and $600 million in civil penalties.

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Heavy smoking in midlife more than doubles your odds of developing Alzheimer's disease, a Kaiser Permanente study said Monday.

The study is the first to examine the long-term consequences of heavy smoking on Alzheimer's and vascular dementia, says the study's principal investigator, Rachel Whitmer, a research scientist with Kaiser Permanente in Oakland.