Originally published August 20 2009
Ten Things That Are Missing from Obama's Health Care Reform Debate
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
(NaturalNews) You can't fix one broken system by replacing it with another broken system. Sure, the current health care system of "that's a pre-existing condition" insurance companies, employer-funded health insurance and miserable Medicaid is a public health disaster, but if we're going to fix the system, we have to come up with something that actually addresses the root cause of disease in America.
The current health care reform debate in Washington is really just a distraction -- a ploy to keep everyone focused on all the wrong topics while quietly refusing to talk about the big issues that threaten the health of an entire nation.
Here are the top 10 things missing from Obama's health care reform plan (and often absent from the debate):
#1) Ending the FDA's suppression of natural cures and safe, effective nutritional supplements.
#2) Initiating a real investment in public education to teach people about how to prevent disease with nutrition.
#3) Ending Big Pharma's monopoly on drug prices and drug patents (not to mention patents on human genes and animals).
#4) Restoring the ability for local doctors to practice local medicine without being controlled from bureaucrats in Washington.
#5) Cracking down on junk food advertising, soda advertising and pharmaceutical ads that convince people to purchase products that will only harm them.
#6) Banning dangerous chemical ingredients that cause diseases in the first place (aspartame, MSG, sodium nitrite, etc.)
#7) A real effort to improve school lunches and serve food that's nutritious instead of food that's cheap and convenient.
#8) Ending bizarre food subsidies on crops like corn that end up making high-fructose corn syrup the cheapest sweetener for manufacturers to use.
#9) Affirming health freedom for parents who wish to opt out of the current system of forced vaccinations and gunpoint-enforced chemotherapy.
#10) Requiring honest food labeling where irradiated and GMO foods are clearly labeled as such.
The Health Revolution Petition is more relevant now than ever...
In fact, the current health care reform debate is missing a long list of items that are essential to a genuine improvement in the health outcome of the American people.
With the help of several health freedom pioneers (and attorneys), I put together the Health Revolution Petition (http://www.HealthRevolutionPetition.org) which offers an affordable, freedom-oriented approach to real health care reform.
Here's the full text of the petition:
We, the People of these United States of America, hereby call for revolutionary changes in our health care system that encourage health and prosperity instead of disease and corporate profit.
Specifically, we call for:
1. Federal government encouragement and reward for the People taking personal responsibility for their own health
- A full federal income tax deduction, with no minimum, for the purchase of any product, service, or device that is intended for use in the improvement of health. This includes, but is not limited to, dietary and herbal supplements, gym memberships, health coaching services, exercise equipment, Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) therapies or any other health-enhancing products and services.
- The immediate creation of an investigatory panel, comprised of leaders from both conventional and naturopathic backgrounds, that would investigate the "Citizens In Charge" debit card health care system described at www.HealthRevolutionPetition.org/CitizensInC...
* The "Citizens In Charge" health care system is a "socialized-free-market" system of health care that eliminates all health insurance and puts health care decisions back into the hands of the People, allowing them to spend their government-provided health care funds on any health-related products or services they choose (conventional, alternative, licensed or unlicensed).
* The investigatory panel shall report on the economic viability (and potential savings) of the program, as well as the likely improvements in health care outcomes. This report shall be made publicly available on the internet for all citizens to read and discuss.
2. Restore Health Freedom to All Americans and Legalize Healing
- Allow all practitioners of the healing arts, licensed or otherwise, the freedom to practice healing arts with the consent of patients. End all government persecution of alternative and complementary care practitioners and clinics.
- End FDA oppression of free speech about health products and therapies.
- Protect access to dietary supplements, colloidal silver, medicinal herbs and anti-cancer products.
- End FTC and FDA assaults on the Free Speech rights of natural health companies who accurately describe the health benefits of their products.
- Affirm the rights of American moms and dads to choose to avoid mandatory vaccinations of their children.
- End federal assaults (DEA) on the possession or sale of medicinal plants that have been medically recognized and legalized by States such as California.
- Legalize Healing: End state monopoly medical licensing laws that grant conventional medical authorities absolute power to decide who can or cannot practice medicine.
3. End FDA Tyranny, Censorship and Corruption
- End the FDA's definition of a "drug" and strip it of authority to censor truthful health claims about dietary supplements.
- End revolving door employment between the FDA and Big Pharma; fire current FDA employees and advisors with past financial ties to Big Pharma.
- Require full disclosures of financial conflicts of interest of FDA managers, scientists and decision panel members.
- End the FDA's Big Pharma-initiated attack on compounding pharmacies and bioidentical hormone therapy.
- Investigate the FDA's collusion with pharmaceutical companies in hiding clinical trial data from the American public.
4. Protect the Food Supply
- Ban GMOs in the U.S. food supply.
- Ban harmful food additives: MSG, aspartame and sodium nitrite.
- Require honest labeling of irradiated foods.
- Require country-of-origin labeling for all foods sold in the U.S.
- Ban the importation of foods using pesticides outlawed in the U.S.
- Save California's almond growers and end the fumigation of raw almonds.
- Require honest investigation into mad cow disease and the questionable practices of factory animal farms.
- Only permit "harmonization" of our healthcare and food laws with other nations if all the freedoms and rights mentioned in this petition are respected and guaranteed both domestically and in the harmonizing nation.
5. Restore Honest Science to Medicine
- Require the open, timely publication of all medical studies.
- Require open disclosure of all ties between study authors, researchers and for-profit entities.
- Require clinical trial results to report ABSOLUTE numbers, not just relative numbers.
- Require long-term testing of drugs (at least 12 months) before approval in order to determine real-world side effects.
- Require safety testing of multiple drug combinations that are commonly prescribed to real patients.
- End disease mongering and the psychiatric medication of infants and toddlers. Outlaw the drugging of young children with mind-altering chemicals such as ADHD drugs.
6. End Era of Big Pharma Domination Over Health Care
- End all drug-company-funded "benefits" to doctors, including vacation-style CME events, speaking fees, consulting fees and author fees.
- Investigate and prosecute drug company executives for intentionally hiding negative drug trial data and misleading the public about the safety of their products.
- Get Big Pharma out of medical schools.
- Guarantee the right of consumers to sue drug companies and medical device manufacturers for damages caused by unsafe products.
- Restore power to the FTC to regulate commercial drug advertising practices.
- Modify the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act to double product liability and personal injury awards involving any pharmaceuticals that are advertised in a Direct-To-Consumer (DTC) manner.
- Enact legislation that would impose substantial criminal penalties for executives of drug companies that advertise drugs for which serious adverse events were known by the company at the time the drug was submitted to the FDA for approval.
- Regulate direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising of prescription medications by removing its jurisdiction from the FDA and shifting it to the FTC, which is normally the agency that exercises jurisdiction over commercial advertising. Additionally:
* Require such ads to prominently and conspicuously display, for a period of no less than five seconds, a toll-free phone number that drug consumers may use to report drug side effects.
* Disallow the practice of using celebrity spokespersons for the promotion of any drug.
* Disallow ads that exaggerate claims of drug benefits or that do not accurately reflect the scientific findings of clinical trials.
* Require all statistical claims of drug benefits to be stated in absolute numbers, not relative numbers.
* Require drug side effects reports gathered through the toll-free phone number to be reported on a timely basis to the FDA.
* Require the FTC to disallow pharmaceutical "lifestyle advertising" that suggests taking a drug will dramatically transform the lifestyle of the patient. Lifestyle advertising sends a dangerous message that the "before" person (depressed, miserable, unhealthy-looking) will be magically changed into the "after" person (healthy, vibrant, happy, energetic and sexy) by taking the drug.
7. Protect Children From Products That Compromise Their Health
- Restrict commercial advertising of junk foods, sodas and caffeine energy drinks to programming hours not commonly viewed by children.
- Eliminate junk food and soda vending machines from all schools and public buildings.
- Get processed foods out of the school lunch program and encourage the use of fresh, unprocessed foods.
- End mandatory vaccination requirements (as per section 2, above), restoring this decision to parents.
8. Ban Man-Made, Non-Natural Cancer-Causing Chemicals in Cosmetics and Personal Care Products
- Ban man-made, non-natural chemicals in cosmetics that have not been proven safe.
- Require government-funded testing of commonly used man-made, non-natural chemicals to determine their safety.
- Require honest labeling of cosmetics and personal care products with appropriate cancer warnings.
- Recognize that the skin absorbs chemicals, and chemicals used on the skin can enter the bloodstream.
9. Invest in Disease Prevention
- Encourage and permit tax deductions for routine testing of vitamin D as part of routine patient exams.
- Encourage vitamin D supplementation and sensible sunlight exposure to correct deficiencies.
- Teach the population about nutrition, vitamin D, medicinal foods and disease prevention by using Public Service Announcements.
10. Protect the Environment from Drug and Chemical Companies
- Require the EPA to investigate the environmental impact of pharmaceuticals in the water supply.
- End the chemical fluoridation of public water supplies.
- Require hospitals, pharmacies and nursing homes to dispose of expired pharmaceuticals in an environmentally-conscious away that avoids more drugs being flushed down the drain and passing intact through waste water treatment facilities and then into our bodies when we consume tap water.
(Note: The actual wording of this petition may change slightly over time for purposes of clarity and completeness. Any changes will be minor and shall honor the spirit and substance of the petition text you are reading now.)
You can sign the petition yourself at: http://www.HealthRevolutionPetition.org
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