Guest guest Posted September 26, 2003 Report Share Posted September 26, 2003 Fri, 26 Sep 2003 07:44:23 -0500 WC Douglass No magic beans Daily Dose September 26, 2003 ************************************************************** What does it take to re-awaken a sleeping giant? Folks, I just can't say enough about the sad state this country is in when it comes to preparedness for a biological, radiological or chemical terror attack at the hands of our sometimes nameless, faceless enemies. And some alarming new research shows just how bad the situation is... According to a recent Partnership for Public Service report (the third such warning in just the last month), the federal government - even under the watchful eye of the well-funded Department of Homeland Security - is woefully lacking in biological weapons experts. And to make matters worse, dozens of these already scarce authorities are scheduled to retire in just the next few years. What's more, a recent Council on Foreign Relations report concluded that local agencies were almost universally under- equipped to mount even a minimally effective response to a terrorist attack - and that's judging by the government's own horrifically lax standards. I don't know whether to be glad or dismayed about this, though - because if you ask me, many of the policies currently favored by the Feds (and most of the states) would likely do more harm than good in the event of such an attack. It may actually be a blessing that these programs aren't fully operational! But all this begs the question: What have we REALLY done in the past two years to protect ourselves against terrorist attacks? Hired a mob of new government employees to paw through innocent citizens' luggage at the airport? (I recently ran afoul of this ridiculous new airport policy myself - and actually spent a night in jail!) What else? Gathered together and renamed a bunch of already-superfluous and largely ineffective government agencies under a flashy new name? The bottom line is this: We aren't doing nearly enough, even after two years. I know, because I well remember how our great nation responded the last time we were attacked on our own soil - December 7, 1941. In the two years following that aggression, we galvanized, mobilized, and achieved a level of civic, industrial, and governmental commitment to the war effort that this world had never before seen. That's what Admiral Yamamoto had foreseen when he said, " I fear we have awakened a sleeping giant... " And while our brave servicemen and women are half a world away, tensely patrolling a hostile nation with bulls-eyes on their backs and no resolution in sight, our country's " giant " - the pride, gumption, self-sacrifice, technology, and economic might of the American people and their elected leaders - slumbers on as we sip our Starbucks coffee and watch our reality TV shows... ************************************************************** Prostate progress - well, sort of... Hallelujah! The mainstream may finally be forced to grapple with the reality that the PSA (Prostate Specific Antigen) test for prostate cancer is completely bogus! Get this... A newly published study in the New England Journal of Medicine concluded that the PSA - heretofore mainstream medicine's standard method for detecting prostate cancer in men - is woefully inaccurate, missing 82 percent of cancerous tumors in men under the age of 60. That's right - the PSA readings of more than 6,500 KNOWN CANCEROUS male subjects under the age of 60 turned up perfectly healthy in more than 8 out of 10 tests! The PSA fares little better in men over 60, either - missing cancer 65 percent of the time. It boggles my mind to think that the vast majority of conventional doctors rely on this test instead of the ultra- reliable AMAS test as a means for detecting prostate cancer. With numbers like these, it borders on malpractice! (For more information on the AMAS test, contact Oncolab Inc. at 617-536-0095 or visit www.amascancertest.com.) But leave it to the mainstream to stare the truth right in the face and blink. Instead of this study's results prompting a movement to outlaw the PSA, it has only spurred some in the mainstream to consider simply lowering the test's " risk " threshold from 4 to 2.6. What would this accomplish? Well, for one thing, they'd probably detect prostate cancer at a slightly better rate (how could it get much worse, right?). But then again, thousands (maybe millions) of perfectly healthy men would end up undergoing painful, invasive biopsies just to prove that they DON'T have cancer after this newly revised PSA threshold sounded a false alarm... That doesn't sound like very good trade-off, does it? Alerting you to ALL types of terror, William Campbell Douglass II, MD ************************************************************** Copyright ©1997-2003 by www.realhealthnews.com, L.L.C. The Daily Dose may not be posted on commercial sites without written permission. ************************************************************** HTML links for AOL, CompuServe and other users http://www.agora-inc.com/reports/600SAMND1/W600D931/home.cfm http://www.agora-inc.com/reports/SOLU/W600D929/home.cfm ************************************************************** Before you hit reply to send us a question or request, please visit here http://www.realhealthnews.com/questions.shtml ************************************************************** If you'd like to participate in the Real Health Forum, search past e-letters and products or you're a Real Health r and would like to search past articles, visit http://www.realhealthnews.com ************************************************************** To learn more about Real Health, call (203) 699-4420 or visit http://www.agora-inc.com/reports/RHB/WRHBD610/home.cfm ************************************************************** To manage your subscription, send an e-mail to: realweb_unsub or go to our web interface at: http://www.agoramail.net/Home.cfm?List=realweb or write us at: Order Processing Center Attn: Customer Service P.O. Box 925 Frederick, MD 21705 NEW WEB MESSAGE BOARDS - JOIN HERE. Alternative Medicine Message Boards.Info http://alternative-medicine-message-boards.info The New with improved product search Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You are posting as a guest. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.