Recent Echinacea Study Faked

December 29, 2006

"Zeus" <info Recent Echinacea "Study" FakedDebunking the Recent Echinacea "Study"

Last week, prominently trumpeted throughout the mainstream media, cameword that researchers at the University of Virginia School of Medicinehad found that Echinacea, a popular herbal cold and flu remedy offeredno benefits for preventing or alleviating colds. (Some news articlesthat I read reporting this story editorialized that the millions ofdollars annually spent each year on Echinacea supplements was "a wasteof money.") The findings were given further legitimacy by beingpublished in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Needless to say, the so-called "study" was accepted at face value andno serious inquiry was made as to how such a finding could suddenlyoccur after more than 30,000 previously published studies on Echinaceaconfirmed its improve immune function (thereby strengthening aperson's ability to fend off colds, flu, and other conditions thatsuppress immune function). Had such an inquiry been made, it wouldhave soon become apparent that the "study" was seriously flawed fromits onset. Among the most noticeable flaws are the following:

1) Rather than using commercially available Echinacea extracts, theresearchers prepared their own extract. That raises the firstquestion? What expertise do the researchers have in this area? Thisis a fair question, since the American Botanical Council, ahighly-respected nonprofit research organization focused on herbalresearch, issued the statement after the "study" was reported statingthe Echinacea preparations the researchers used "do not correlatewith commercial Echinacea products currently available to consumers."

2) The dosage used in the "study" was less than a third of normalEchinacea dosages found in commercial Echinacea products andrecommended by practitioners of her/bal medicine. Why? Because thislower, less effective dose is the one being recommended by the Germangovernment, which is aligned with the German pharmaceuticalcorporations that are leading the charge in Europe towardssignificantly reducing the dosage range of both heibs and nutritionalsupplements for sale worldwide (something that has already been donein German and many other European countries; there, higher doses ofsuch supplements can only be obtained with a doctor's prescription andat much greater cost than what we pay here in the U.S.) Consider for amoment the outcry from Big Pharma if researchers studied apharmaceutical drug using far less than the recommended dose and thendetermined the drug didn't work.

3) All of the subjects in the "study" were college students, which initself is a serious flaw, since participants are hardly representativeof the general population that uses Echinacea supplements and, beingso young, typically have healthier immune systems than would a moreinclusive, representative study group.

Despite these serious flaws, the "study" was accepted as gospel by themedia that reported on it and the end result is that an unsuspectingpublic, most of whom have little if any awareness of the 30,000-plusstudies that support Echinacea's health benefits, are led to believethat Echinacea is "a waste of money."

Needless to say, the American Botanical Council's comments on thestudy (which are far more diplomatic that my own) did not receivewidespread media coverage. To read the ABC's full statement, visithttp://www.herbalgram.org/default.asp?c=echinacea072605.

Recently, similar stories were widely spread in the media claimingthat vitamin E doesn't work, either. These stories, which continue torun as I write this, are equally suspect. As I've mentioned in pastissues of this newsletter, there is a media campaign underway to erodethe public's faith in natural health supplements. According to healthfreedom advocate Tim Bolen (see http://www.bolenreport.com for dailyupdates on all matters related to health and health freedom), thiscampaign is being orchestrated here in the US by a New York PR firm inthe pay of Big Pharma. Given the fact that so many mainstreamjournalists are little more than stenographers these days,complacently repackaging press releases as news without any follow-upresearch or inquiry, I encourage you to take such media stories with alarge grain of salt.

So, how does this New York ad agency public relations "black-ops" work?

A lot of people in the "health" movement have the misconception that"the big media" is against them, because of the media's inattention tofacts, and reality, about health care. For far too often do we seestories, like the "hit piece" against Echinacea - and it seems that noone in the media checks the truth of them, or their authenticity. They just print them.

But, that's not what actually happens - the situation is more mundanethan that. The truth is that "the big media" is, these days, a bigbureaucracy and as such, as an industry, is S-T-U-U-U-U-U-P-I-D. Kindof like a herd of sheep bleeting its way around a field of grass - anygood sheepdog can herd them over a cliff - and that's exactly what"Big Pharma" does to them with their New York ad agency - herd themover a cliff - like they did with the "Echinacea" story.

Put this together - (1) The University of Virginia does a so-called"study" on Echinacea. (2) Practically minutes later, after theso-called "study" is done, and before anyone in the public sector ismade aware of the "study," the New England Journal of Medicinepublishes a scathing editorial by someone, Wallace Sampson, billed as"from prestigious Stanford University" (Sampson was NEVER on thestaff at Stanford). (3) Seemingly, minutes after that, the storyalmost magically appears in newspapers, and on TV news, all over thecountry.

Smell the stench?

Want to know how it's done?

There's nothing "magical" about it - it's all done in Manhattan. Likemost "quackbusters"http://www.quackpotwatch.org/WisconsinWar/who_are_these_so.htm operations, the process is designed, and funded, out of a New York adagency. Want to prove it to yourself? Easy to do. Simply call yourlocal newspaper - the one that ran the "hit" against Echinacea - andask them to give you, in detail, the source of that story. You won'tbe disappointed.

This happens ALL OF THE TIME.

The important questions to ask are (1) who is paying this ad agencyto run this "black-ops?" (2) How much are they getting paid?

What happens next?

I think that one, or more, American manufacturers of Echinacea will beraided by the FDA - with guns drawn - and the whole "raid" will becovered on TV network news. The story will be run for at least threedays. The owners, and employees, of the companies will be dragged outin chains from their offices, and "child pornography" and "automaticweapons" will be found in someone's home - just to set the "tone" ofthe story in the people of America's mind.

Since "Big Pharma" Controls US TV NEWS, http://www.quackpotwatch.org/opinionpieces/Big%20Pharma%20Controls%20Media.htmALL of the network TV news channels will, almost "magically," (sarcasmintended) run the same story at the same time.

"Big Pharma" works every day to kill the worldwide "health" movement,and maintain the "drugs, drugs, and more drugs" paradigm. This willcontinue until the MUCH larger "health" movement, as a service tohumanity, kills "Big Pharma."

It's time...

Why is "Big Pharma" doing this?

Because a National Science Foundation study, a few years ago,discovered that 88% of all US adults used, and believed in, some"alternative" to conventional medical care.

Stay tuned...

Tim Bolen - Consumer Advocate

This "Millions of Health Freedom Fighters - Newsletter" is about thebattle between "Health and Medicine" on Planet Earth. Tim Bolen is anop/ed writer with extensive knowledge of the activities of asubversive organization calling itself the "quackbusters," and thatorganization's attempts to suppress, and discredit, any, and allhealth modalities that compete with the allopathic (MD) paradigm forconsumer health dollars.

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