Sunday, 24 February 2008

consumer health digest 05 28



For additional information, see Live Blood Cell Analysis:Another

Gimmick to Sell You Something

###

"Top AIDS doctor" surrenders his California license.

Michael J. Scolaro, M.D., of Beverly Hills, California, has been

assessed $4,500 in costs and surrendered his license to practice

medicine to settle charges of negligence, incompetence, unprofessional

conduct and failing to keep required records in the treatment of three

patients. The Medical Board of California says that he gave an

unnecessary drugs, ordered excessive tests, failed to appropriately

monitor a patient's progress, and failed to obtain consultation when

needed. In 1994, the board placed Scolaro on three years' probation

for improperly experimenting on 11 terminally ill AIDS patients by

inoculating them with blood containing the human immunodeficiency

virus. Scolaro founded and operated a clinic called Let There Be Hope.

His Web site refers to him as "one of the world's top AIDS doctors."

###

Study finds vitamin E and aspirin won't prevent cancer in women.

Newly released data from the Women's Health Study do not support use

of vitamin E or aspirin to prevent cancer or heart disease in

apparently healthy women. The study involved 39,876 women aged age 45

years or older who were randomly assigned to receive vitamin E or

placebo and aspirin or placebo and were followed for an average of

10.1 years between 1992 and 2004. The study found no difference in

cancer death rate. Cardiovascular death rate was lower in the vitamin

E group, but there was no decrease in the overall death rate. [Lee I-M

and others. Vitamin E in the primary prevention of cardiovascular

disease and cancer. Journal of the American Medical Association

294:56-65, 2005]

http://tinyurl.com/aen76

The authors concluded:

**The data from this large trial indicated that 600 IU of

natural-source vitamin E taken every other day provided no overall

benefit for major cardiovascular events or cancer.

**The data do not support recommending vitamin E supplementation for

cardiovascular disease or cancer prevention among healthy women.

**The findings should be viewed in the context of the available

randomized evidence, as well as data that should be available over the

next several years from ongoing trials.

**The findings of decreased cardiovascular death rate with vitamin E

and decreased major cardiovascular events among women aged at least 65

years differ from the totality of evidence and should be explored

further.

**At present, in the primary prevention of CVD and cancer, therapeutic

lifestyle changes including a healthy diet and control of major risk

factors remain important clinical and public health strategies.

###

BMJ will stop posting letters from "AIDS deniers."

The British Medical Journal has announced that its criteria for

posting "rapid response" letters to its Web site have been

tighened.The rapid response program, which began in 1998, has resulted

in more than 50,000 posts. The editors like the program because it

enables important comments about articles to be made immediately.

However, the easy access has also resulted in what the editors call

the threat of "bores taking over." The new policy requires that

responses contribute substantially to the discussion and not be

repetitive. One topic that will be curbed is the denial that AIDS is

caused by the HIV virus. [Davies S, Delamonthe T. Revitalising rapid

responses. British Medical Journal 330:1284, 2005]

###

Astrologer sues NASA over comet crash.

Russian astrologer Marina Bai is suing the U.S. National Aeronautic

and Space Administration

http://www.nasa.gov/home/index.html?skipIntro=1, claiming that the

agency's bombardment of the Tempel 1 comet has "deformed" her

horoscope and violated her spiritual rights. A NASA probe rammed the

comet last week as part of an experiment that scientists hoped would

help reveal how the universe was formed. The suit asks for damages of

$300 million, which approximates the cost of the mission. The James

Randi Educational Foundation has posted this reaction from one of its

readers: "I certainly agree with . . . Ms. Bai that NASA has caused a

big difference in her life. Before Deep Impact hit the comet, she was

an unheard-of buffoon; now she's a well-known buffoon."

###

Other issues of the Digest are accessible through

http://www.ncahf.org/digest05/index.html For information about the

National Council Against Health Fraud, see

http://www.ncahf.org/about/mission.html. If you enjoy the newsletter,

please recommend it to your friends.

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------------------------------------------------------------------

Stephen Barrett, M.D.

Board Chairman, Quackwatch, Inc.

NCAHF Vice President and Director of Internet Operations

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Editor, Consumer Health Digest

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