Re: Is anybody there?
Spencer ©¿©¬ wrote:
> "Spencer ©¿©¬" wrote in message news:5u4do9F1g1uifU1@mid.individual.net...
>> "Cin" wrote in message news:8dbca61c-40ee-4590-
>> On 2 Jan, 12:09, Spencer ©¿©¬ wrote:
>>> If I don't see a new post on this group I will finally give up on it and unsubscribe.
>>> As this was my first newsgroup and used to be so good back in the day this is the end of an era.
>>> There are now better ME support groups in Facebook and I'll use what little energy I have there.
>
>> # Hi- I would like to find and join the ME facebook network; please tell
>> # me how?
>> # Thank you,
>> # Cin
>>
>> Just sign up with Facebook and it will prompt you to join lots of things. Choose groups and search for ME and choose which ones you like.
>> Or you could link up to me ( spencerprimate ?) I just tried to find myself and failed. I only found the page I made for a girl I used to know called Sonia Smile. I may have removed myself from her friends but I keep her page going as an experiment. I did find the ME Support group http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=6572206334
>> and there is also a group for Invest in ME UK which we should support.
>>
>> PS if you need any more help ask again as I am sure that when I'm not in a hurry I will find my own page!
>>
> I got it sorted now.
>
> To view Spencer's profile, follow the link below:
> http://www.facebook.com/n/?profile.php&id=708107251
> Thanks,
> The Facebook Team
>
> Spencer
OK I give up on this group. Everyone now has a place on the web.
One last piece of good news from One Click
> --- THEONECLICKPROTEST@yahoogroups.com wrote:
>
>> > Date: 8 Jan 2008 11:40:05 -0000
>> > From: THEONECLICKPROTEST@yahoogroups.com
>> > To: THEONECLICKPROTEST@yahoogroups.com
>> > Subject: [THEONECLICKPROTEST] Digest Number 1399
>> >
>> > There are 12 messages in this issue.
>> >
>> > Topics in this digest:
>> >
>> > 1. Read it and Judge for Yourself
>> > From: theoneclickgroup
>> >
>> > 2a. Re: Vietnam Baby Dies - Hep B Vaccine Withdrawal
>> > Demanded
>> > From: jacquibutterworth
>> >
>> > 3a. ONE CLICK ANNOUNCEMENT - NICE JUDICIAL REVIEW
>> >
>> > From: theoneclickgroup
>> > 3b. Re: ONE CLICK ANNOUNCEMENT - NICE JUDICIAL
>> > REVIEW
>> > From: MEagenda
>> >
>> > 4a. One Click Judicial Review Update
>> > From: Jane Bryant
>> > 4b. Re: One Click Judicial Review Update
>> > From: maymartinfms@aol.com
>> > 4c. One Click Judicial Review Update
>> > From: jane_colley
>> > 4d. Re: One Click Judicial Review Update
>> > From: Jane Bryant
>> >
>> > 5a. New file uploaded to THEONECLICKPROTEST
>> > From: THEONECLICKPROTEST@yahoogroups.com
>> > 5b. New file uploaded to THEONECLICKPROTEST
>> > From: THEONECLICKPROTEST@yahoogroups.com
>> >
>> > 6. Daily Mail: The wake-you-up pill, by Jerome Burne
>> > (thyroid, Dr Skinn
>> > From: MEagenda
>> >
>> > 7. Judicial Review - Visa Card
>> > From: Jane Bryant
> ________________________________________________________________________
>> >
>> > 1. Read it and Judge for Yourself
>> > Posted by: "theoneclickgroup"
>> > theoneclickgroup@yahoo.co.uk theoneclickgroup
>> > Date: Mon Jan 7, 2008 4:26 am ((PST))
>> >
>> > PERMISSION TO REPOST
>> >
>> > Read it and Judge for Yourself
>> > http://tinyurl.com/2fauax
>> > by Martin J. Walker - 6.1.08
>> >
>> >
>> > On the Guardian Comment is Free (CiF
>> > http://tinyurl.com/2a2759)
>> > internet pages on Saturday January 5, there was an
>> > exchange
>> > about my recent short book, Cultural Dwarfs and Junk
>> > Journalism:
>> > Dr Ben Goldacre (http://tinyurl.com/25h2pa),
>> > Quackbusting and
>> > Corporate Science. As I pointed out in the
>> > pre-publication
>> > publicity this was the fourth book I have written
>> > which follows
>> > the growth of the corporate science lobby and the
>> > intervention
>> > of vested interests in medical and science policy.
>> > This Lobby
>> > has grown more influential and become more effective
>> > since New
>> > Labour came to power in 1997.
>> >
>> > I have no intention of joining in this hand-grenade
>> > bun fight
>> > on the internet pages of The Guardian. I am a part
>> > of the serious
>> > opposition to the corporate science lobby and have
>> > no intention
>> > of getting involved in vituperate exchanges on their
>> > turf. As in
>> > the paper itself, on the CiF site, the editors and
>> > owners of the
>> > Guardian sit back surveying the wreckage that
>> > Goldacre is causing
>> > without the feeling the need for any critical
>> > intervention.
>> >
>> > I have chosen to make my remarks about the exchanges
>> > on (CiF)
>> > and the whole position of the Guardian newspaper, in
>> > the Zeus
>> > newsletter and the One Click site. I would be
>> > pleased if people
>> > were to circulate this brief defence of my book on
>> > as many sites as
>> > possible.
>> >
>> > I am under no illusion about the problems inherent
>> > in tackling
>> > the subjects that I have chosen to investigate and
>> > write about.
>> > The people and organisations I have looked at are
>> > immensely
>> > powerful and care nothing about using any tactics to
>> > foreclose
>> > the opposition. When I wrote and then published
>> > Dirty Medicine
>> > (http://tinyurl.com/yuxrmj), Duncan Campbell, at
>> > that time a
>> > member of the Campaign Against Health Fraud (now
>> > called
>> > HealthWatch), managed with the judicious use of
>> > solicitors
>> > letters that I had already answered and nullified,
>> > to frighten
>> > retailers into not stocking the book, some journals
>> > into not
>> > publishing reviews and finally the books printers
>> > into not
>> > printing a second edition. The `straight' world
>> > published no
>> > reviews of the book, and it was effectively left
>> > uncommented
>> > upon in all the `straight' media. Years after its
>> > publication
>> > Jerome Burne managed to get a story in the Guardian
>> > magazine
>> > that looked in an unbiased manner at the content of
>> > the book.
>> >
>> > I did find out not long after the book was published
>> > that
>> > lobbying organisations and orthodox medical
>> > Institutions and
>> > groups, especially those that contained lobby
>> > members, had
>> > decided on a policy of not mentioning the book in
>> > any manner.
>> > As it happened the then Chair of HealthWatch,
>> > Thurston Brewen,
>> > did give notice of another strategy which was then
>> > being
>> > resolved. Speaking after a radio programme with one
>> > of the
>> > other participants who asked about the book, he said
>> > venomously
>> > that it was a `Nazi book'. At the time, I couldn't
>> > really
>> > understand this but later when Duncan Campbell told
>> > an
>> > interviewer that I was funded by pharmaceutical
>> > companies,
>> > I began to catch on.
>> >
>> > The lobby will first do anything to avoid any
>> > critical mention
>> > of my work, if they fail in this they will try and
>> > dismiss it
>> > with outrageous lies while refusing to address the
>> > content. In
>> > 2003, I wrote SKEWED (http://tinyurl.com/2532vo), a
>> > book
>> > predominately about those people and organisations
>> > who have
>> > suggested that people with ME, CFS or Gulf War
>> > Syndrome had
>> > `false illness beliefs' and were actually mentally
>> > ill. I called
>> > a press conference launch for this book at a London
>> > Hotel and
>> > though some fifty activists and interested parties
>> > attended,
>> > only one journalist from the Ecologist turned up and
>> > he later
>> > refused to write a review. It occurred to me after
>> > this that
>> > the psychiatric members of the industrial science
>> > lobby have
>> > immense power.
>> >
>> > My book Brave New World of Zero Risk
>> > (http://tinyurl.com/ywbe8y),
>> > likewise received no reviews in the `straight
>> > media'. Which
>> > brings me to the publication last Tuesday of my
>> > latest book
>> > Cultural Dwarfs and Junk Journalism: Ben Goldacre,
>> > quackbusting
>> > and corporate science. This book evidently presented
>> > new problems
>> > for the corporate science lobby, because as in all
>> > good political
>> > confrontations, the tidal wave of disgust at
>> > Goldacre and the
>> > Guardian had grown over the last couple of years
>> > with the
>> > Guardian pursuing a kind of Animal Farm policy of
>> > complete
>> > support for Goldacre that allowed no critical
>> > dissent on its
>> > pages.
>> >
>> > It was no surprise to me that after only two days of
>> > the book
>> > being on the Slingshot site, there had been almost
>> > 3,000 (after
>> > 5 days 5,000) downloads and on other sites the
>> > number of
>> > downloads had been even greater. Nor was it any
>> > surprise that
>> > I immediately received a number of emails from
>> > individuals who
>> > were grateful that I had published their point of
>> > view that
>> > had previously been all but censored. But I still
>> > wondered what
>> > the Guardian would do about the book, because after
>> > all a major
>> > part of it criticised the newspaper for allowing
>> > Goldacre to
>> > write propaganda for industrial interests without a
>> > murmur about
>> > journalistic standards.
>> >
>> > On Saturday January 5, I found out what the Guardian
>> > would do.
>> > Under the guise of some kind of democratic
>> > intervention in the
>> > newspaper, they now have Comment is Free (CiF), a
>> > slogan that
>> > is meant to suggest that the Guardian has thrown
>> > open its pages
>> > to anyone who would wish to make critical comment.
>> > In effect
>> > it is quite the opposite, for the internet site
>> > actually
>> > estranges serious critics from the content of the
>> > newspaper
>> > itself. Nothing in CiF has any effect upon editors
>> > or provokes
>> > any real public response on behalf of the newspaper.
>> >
>> > On January 5, CIF was almost entirely preoccupied
>> > with an
>> > exchange about Cultural Dwarfs. In this exchange, of
>> > course
>> > the Guardian escaped without a scratch, which after
>> > all is one
>> > of the purposes of CiF. What stands out most
>> > however, is that
>> > those who were determined to wreck my reputation and
>> > destroy
>> > any understanding of the book, did what they do
>> > best,
>> > misrepresented the book and tried outrageously to
>> > draw attention
>> > away from its content.
>> >
>> > There were two types of response on the CiF, those
>> > who supported
>> > my work and more specifically for the arguments that
>> > I put
>> > forward in the book, submitted measured rational
>> > pieces. Those
>> > who for whatever undisclosed reason were ultra
>> > critical of the
>> > book's publication, who would not countenance any of
>> > its
>> > content, refused to offer any discussion of this
>> > content. While
>> > one might well have expected this, it was the
>> > poisonous way in
>> > which they tried to deflect attention that proved
>> > that they
>> > were people with some maligned purpose, who, and one
>> > has got to
>> > be honest about this, suffer varying degrees of
>> > mental
>> > incapacity.
>> >
>> > There follows some of the comments of this later
>> > group. This
>> > comment below appears to be confusingly the mildest
>> > of the
>> > destructive strategists
>> >
>> > "Thanks for the posting the link to the "Slingshot
>> > publications"
>> > book, Clifford G Miller - but I'm confused:
>> >
>> > The book you recommend to us refers to what it
>> > describes as:
>> > "the unproven science of HIV and AIDS-related
>> > illnesses", and
>> > describes the much-ridiculed AIDS denialist Peter
>> > Duesberg as
>> > "one of the world's leading virologists"... The book
>> > also seems
>> > to contain an endorsement of the conspiracy theorist
>> > Matthias
>> > Rath, who has campaigned against the public
>> > provision of
>> > anti-HIV drugs in South Africa and whose website
>> > speaks for
>> > itself. Do you really think that a book like that
>> > deserves to
>> > be taken seriously?"
>> >
>> > I have noticed recently that critics of my work have
>> > frequently
>> > turned to an argument, which when boiled down,
>> > amounts to this:
>> > Walker is an HIV & AIDS denialist, therefore we
>> > should believe
>> > nothing he writes. I find this approach very
>> > interesting mainly
>> > because it is founded on absolute untruth and can
>> > only be built
>> > using specious false arguments.
>> >
>> > While I was writing my book Dirty Medicine and
>> > afterwards I
>> > worked with campaigning gay organizations that
>> > questioned the
>> > licensing, prescription and use of the drug AZT
>> > which was
>> > manufactured at that time by the Wellcome
>> > Foundation. AZT was,
>> > as many people have pointed out, a classically `bad'
>> > drug.
>> > With others I campaigned against the marketing
>> > techniques used
>> > by the Wellcome Foundation that persuaded gay aids
>> > groups,
>> > often with generous grant funding to back and
>> > promote AZT.
>> >
>> > As for the argument that HIV doesn't cause Aids
>> > related
>> > illnesses, I never have aligned myself with any
>> > argument that
>> > denies a link between the HIV virus and later AIDS
>> > related
>> > illnesses. I could however follow enough of the
>> > science to
>> > understand that the matter is exceptionally complex
>> > and there
>> > are no simple explanations as to how HIV came to be
>> > in the
>> > public health pool, how it is passed between people,
>> > who is
>> > affected by it and who is not and finally whether or
>> > not
>> > co-factors exist that give rise to some people dying
>> > very
>> > quickly while other continue to be `long-term
>> > survivors' for
>> > decades after testing positive. As a skeptic I
>> > obviously
>> > feel the need to ask and find answers for such
>> > important
>> > questions.
>> >
>> > In relation to South Africa and AIDS, I am utterly
>> > opposed
>> > to the pharmaceutical companies using the poor of
>> > Africa as
>> > fodder for pharmaceutical experiments of any kind,
>> > or to them
>> > off-loading useless or unregulated out of date drugs
>> > in African
>> > countries. And as any sane person would, I tend
>> > toward the
>> > argument that it is prevention: sanitary public
>> > conditions,
>> > good water and nutrition and a relief from poverty
>> > that have
>> > to be the first building blocks in conquering
>> > disease in
>> > Africa or anywhere else in the world.
>> >
>> > But why should I feel the need to explain my point
>> > of view
>> > on such matters? Perhaps it is sufficient just to
>> > comment on
>> > this contributor's last line (Do you really think
>> > that a book
>> > like that deserves to be taken seriously?)
>> > Presumably he
>> > actually means `Do you really think a book like that
>> > deserves
>> > to be read?' Perhaps it might be better just to burn
>> > the
>> > internet.
>> >
>> > The comment above is one of the best thought out and
>> > most
>> > rational of those that appeared against the book on
>> > the CiF site.
>> > If we want to know how the tree swinging corporate
>> > science
>> > advocates who are In Bed With Ben reason through the
>> > question,
>> > we have to look at someone like Sukie Bapswent:
>> >
>> > "That book, of which I have just read the first 30
>> > pages, is an
>> > absolutely huge load of balls. The author, just like
>> > you Clifford,
>> > is incapable of engaging on the same terms as Dr
>> > Goldacre's
>> > almost invariably watertight, evidence based
>> > analysis.
>> > Furthermore, it is rife with heresay, paranoia and
>> > conspiracy,
>> > second guessing, ad hominem attacks, and unpleasant
>> > insinuations.
>> > In short, it is a crock of shit. Enjoy."
>> >
>> > Well what can I say Sukie, I'm certainly glad you
>> > enjoyed the
>> > first 30 pages what you'll have to say about the
>> > rest of the
>> > book hovers on the edge of my mind as one of the
>> > great questions
>> > facing post industrial civilization. Have a happy
>> > life and may
>> > all your projects be crocks of shit as worthwhile as
>> > mine.
>> >
>> > Unfortunately Sukie forgot to pen her end point
>> > criticism in
>> > that first contribution, the one that goes like a
>> > spear to the
>> > heart, and that she had been instructed by her
>> > masters to put
>> > at the beginning. After further thought she
>> > contributed a PS:
>> >
>> > "Oh, and badly written, and grammatically moronic."
>> >
>> > I wonder where we would be without scientific
>> > commentators of
>> > such acumen and intellectual perspicacity. Oh, and
>> > such good
>> > writers. I began to phrase a question asking what a
>> > `moronic
>> > grammatically' was but then I thought, `I can't
>> > descend to this
>> > at my age it gives me back pain'.
>> >
>> > I particularly enjoyed this contribution from
>> > Briscorant with
>> > its cloudy post modern feminist style. I find the
>> > theory about
>> > `spurned lovers' fascinating and wish that
>> > Briscorant would
>> > contribute a quick monograph on the subject to a
>> > serious
>> > literary journal.
>> >
>> > "The e-book referred to, won't help you understand
>> > the issues
>> > either. It is based on two dishonest methods of
>> > argument.
>> >
>> > First, it regards scientific comments, as merely
>> > political
>> > statements: ie arbitrary pronouncements driven
>> > mainly by a
>> > person's political views and allegiances. This is
>> > simply a
>> > dishonest way to view science, which teaches, and
>> > expects,
>> > high regard for the truth. See the first conclusion,
>> > first
>> > paragraph.
>> >
>> > The second is ad hominem - ie attack an opponent's
>> > position,
>> > not by addressing the issues, but by attacking the
>> > opponent's
>> > character. This is obvious from a quick scan of the
>> > document.
>> > Again, not helpful for making progress in human
>> > understanding
>> > of things. I've occasionally encountered stuff like
>> > this before.
>> > The authors tend to be spurned lovers, and
>> > cheated-on partners.
>> > There's a pretence at rationality, but the text
>> > rambles, the
>> > viciousless and bitterness blaze clear. Most such
>> > authors,
>> > however, are wise enough to tear it up afterwards.
>> > They do
>> > not footnote, add nine appendices, then publish on
>> > the
>> > internet."
>> >
>> > I will just say in passing that I haven't been
>> > spurned in a
>> > long while, although these readers constantly
>> > running from
>> > the content of my work does make me feel in a kind
>> > of post-modern
>> > experiential way, a little like being rejected,
>> > could it be
>> > that this is what steers my style, am I a masochist?
>> >
>> > The prize for propaganda, however, must go, to
>> > Professor
>> > Colquhoun late of London University.
>> >
>> > "Aha I see Martin Walker's self-published free book
>> > has been
>> > mentioned. With friends like Walker, the alternative
>> > medicine
>> > industry certainly has no need of enemies. I have
>> > never seen so
>> > many errors of fact in such a short document. It
>> > promises to
>> > unearth a great conspiracy, but fails to unearth
>> > anything. One
>> > of the more amusing bits is that Walker seems to
>> > think that the
>> > Wellcome Trust make AZT. The Trust does not, and
>> > never has made
>> > any drug."
>> >
>> > Colquhoun says that everything I say about him in my
>> > book is
>> > wrong. The problem is I hardly say anything about
>> > him. What I
>> > do say is linked to a) his attacks on Patrick
>> > Holford the
>> > independent nutritionist and b) an article that
>> > Colquhoun
>> > wrote in the science mag Nature. As seems common
>> > with these
>> > skeptical types he says nothing about these
>> > substantive
>> > issues.
>> >
>> > I have spent years correcting others who have said
>> > that the
>> > Wellcome Trust rather than the Foundation
>> > manufactured AZT and
>> > I have never held or expressed this view myself. So
>> > why oh
>> > why does a recently retired professor of
>> > pharmacology from a
>> > major European University need to distort what I
>> > write in my
>> > book? Surely he is familiar with the simplest
>> > academic processes
>> > in which one references, critiques and then rebuts
>> > apparent
>> > mistakes in articles, papers and thesis material;
>> > perhaps not,
>> > maybe this kind of academic rigor doesn't apply to
>> > scientists
>> > or perhaps the use of academic method has been the
>> > victim of
>> > recent public sector cuts. But hey, let's not
>> > forget, these
>> > people are just trying to destroy me, not
>> > constructively discuss
>> > my book or a set of ideas held by thousands of
>> > people who hold
>> > different views to theirs.
>> >
>> > Just before we leave the Professor, I must update
>> > you on his
>> > current retirement campaign against Patrick Holford.
>> > I heard
>> > recently that he has a special `operations room' in
>> > the cellar
>> > of his house, where he barks out instruction to a
>> > secretary
>> > person as he walks round a campaign table with his
>> > hands
>> > clasped behind his back.
>> >
>> > Peeved that so many alternative health practitioners
>> > and others
>> > wrote to the provost of UCL about his derisory web
>> > site,
>> > causing him to make alterations to it, he has now
>> > written to
>> > the University where Patrick Holford is a visiting
>> > lecturer
>> > asking to be supplied with all the information about
>> > his
>> > activities there. Colquhoun is clearly trying to get
>> > Holford
>> > thrown off the University faculty. Well, I for one
>> > am just so
>> > glad that the great and the good of our academics
>> > don't get
>> > involved in personal attacks.
>> >
>> > For a refutation of even this simply misinformation
>> > about the
>> > Wellcome Foundation on the CiF site, I have to thank
>> > the
>> > campaigning lawyer Clifford Miller, one of the two
>> > or three
>> > people who rose throughout the debate, to the aid of
>> > my book.
>> >
>> > "Professor Colquhoun is sadly misinformed when he
>> > claims
>> > "Walker seems to think that the Wellcome Trust make
>> > AZT".
>> > And in being so misinformed, This casts doubt on
>> > everything
>> > else David Colquhoun claims about the Martin Walker
>> > book. And
>> > I cast further doubt on his claims here. Walker said
>> > no such
>> > thing. And Walker is not wrong. Walker actually
>> > referred to
>> > "the Wellcome Foundation drug company" and not to
>> > "The
>> > Wellcome Trust". The Wellcome Foundation is the
>> > pharmaceutical
>> > company established by Sir Henry Wellcome and his
>> > business
>> > partner Silas Mainville Burroughs and which has
>> > evolved into
>> > GlaxoSmithKline. It was Burroughs Wellcome which
>> > claimed AZT
>> > could prolong the life of patients with AIDS and a
>> > Burroughs
>> > Wellcome Company filed for a patent on AZT in 1985."
>> >
>> > My book was defended as well by John Stone, who
>> > always raises
>> > clear questions in need of clear answers which he
>> > rarely gets.
>> > He has been writing to the Guardian for some time
>> > questioning
>> > Ben's Bent Science column but Guardian editors, like
>> > Eunuchs
>> > at the harem door don't even pass his messages on.
>> >
>> > One very clever contributor, whose identity is
>> > unknown to me
>> > made a contribution in the form of an unedited short
>> > piece of
>> > my book which specifically referred to Goldacre.
>> > This put
>> > questions in the public domain which were not to be
>> > answered
>> > by any other contributor. I did find this way of
>> > sneaking
>> > round the censures very intelligent. For those of
>> > you who
>> > haven't yet read my book, I reproduce this taster
>> > below:
>> >
>> > Apricotston January 5, 2008 1:50 PM. This is what
>> > Martin J
>> > Walker has to say about Dr Goldacre:
>> >
>> > "The most empathetic and forgiving of us were
>> > imagining that
>> > Ben was a junior doctor in a heavily pressed
>> > casualty unit in
>> > an inner City area. If Ben was dealing with the
>> > dirty life and
>> > death of motor accidents, shootings and drug-related
>> > deaths in
>> > north-east London for example, perhaps he might be
>> > forgiven
>> > his hard bitten views, and his anti airy-fairy
>> > concerns about
>> > people affected by electric air waves, chemicals and
>> > bad
>> > vaccines. It appears, however, that he has always
>> > been a
>> > post-grad clinical research worker, now possibly
>> > studying
>> > for a Phd at King's College, the home of the
>> > psychiatric
>> > school of 'all-in-the-mind aetiology'. In all
>> > probability
>> > Goldacre has been at this University Hospital since
>> > taking
>> > his MA, and was probably attached to it when he was
>> > taken on
>> > by the Guardian.
>> >
>> > If this is the case, most probably he doesn't see
>> > patients,
>> > except when he passes them in the corridor at the
>> > Maudsley as
>> > he makes his way to the Liaison Psychiatry Unit
>> > within the
>> > Institute of Psychiatry,where he is studying under
>> > the Prince
>> > of Spin Professor Simon Wessely, the head of the
>> > Liaison
>> > Psychiatry Department. Wessely is an advisor to the
>> > Science
>> > Media Centre and on the Advisory panel of the US
>> > American
>> > Council on Science and Health, one of the most
>> > heavily funded
>> > pro industry lobby groups in the world.
>> >
>> > The really good thing about Liaison psychiatry is
>> > that you
>> > can blend all kinds of social issues with lots of
>> > mad-cap
>> > psychiatric ideas that work well for industry.
>> > Liaison
>> > psychiatry is a form of psychiatry in which the
>> > psychiatrist
>> > informs unsuspecting ordinary citizens who report to
>> > hospitals
>> > with organic illnesses that they are actually
>> > mentally ill.
>> > This diagnostic ability is particularly acute when
>> > the Liaison
>> > psychiatrist meets up with anyone who has suffered
>> > an
>> > environmental illness, a chemical insult, or any
>> > industry-related illness.
>> >
>> > For some time now, King's College has been deeply
>> > involved in
>> > the programme of spin designed by industry and the
>> > New Labour
>> > government. However, as is evident from the
>> > involvement of
>> > Goldacre there, the relationship between The Lobby,
>> > the
>> > University and the hospital, is not simple. As well
>> > as
>> > Wessely's role, ex-Revolutionary Communist Party
>> > members
>> > have also played a part in bringing vested interests
>> > to the
>> > college. Together with pseudo-scientific research
>> > into mental
>> > illness and environmentally caused illness, King's
>> > is deeply
>> > involved in risk analysis for various controvertial
>> > environmental factors."
>> >
>> > I have no faith at all in the Guardian or its
>> > ability to
>> > put its house in order. To me, the questions that I
>> > raise
>> > about Goldacre in my essay are significant matters
>> > about
>> > the role of journalists in these days of much spun
>> > information. I think these questions should stand
>> > serious
>> > intellectual scrutiny and the outcome of this
>> > investigation
>> > form ethical rules for journalists and their contact
>> > with,
>> > or their writing about commercial vested interests,
>> > whether
>> > they be connected with mobile phones or genetically
>> > modified
>> > crops.
>> >
>> > That the editors and owners of the Guardian refuse
>> > to get
>> > involved in proper public scrutiny of these
>> > questions, speaks
>> > volumes about their cynicism, their political agenda
>> > and
>> > their regard for truth.
>> >
>> > Clearly Ben and his Bent Science column will exist
>> > for many
>> > years to come. If my book has managed anything, in
>> > the
>> > present climate, I will be happy that it has
>> > affected people
>> > in the way it clearly affected, Principled:
>> >
>> > Principled January 5, 2008 4:38 PM
>> > Clifford Miller, I did manage to view the book you
>> > recommended
>> > by Martin J Walker at Slingshot Publications
>> > (http://tinyurl.com/3xkwue) thanks to your direction
>> > to the site.
>> > The mind boggles at the intricacies of the vested
>> > interests and
>> > relationships Walker says underpins the output of
>> > Ben Goldacre
>> > and other journos. I enjoy reading Bens' works but
>> > must admit
>> > from now on I will endeavour to read them with a
>> > slightly wider vision.
>> >
>> > That and I would advise a slightly suspended sense
>> > of belief!
>> > But while the readers of the Guardian might be this
>> > intuitively
>> > fair minded we know now that Goldacre and his
>> > editors have no
>> > similar aspirations and they will stay rooted to
>> > Bent Science
>> > and continue to by-pass the views, feelings and
>> > critique of
>> > anyone who does not toe the industry line.
>> >
>> >
> http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/jan/05/1
>> >
>> > Martin J. Walker - 6.1.08
>> >
>> >
> ************************************************************
>> >
>> > For Further Information:
>> >
>> > Patrick Holford on Ben Goldacre
>> > http://tinyurl.com/2mheok
>> > Excerpts on Ben Goldacre From 'Cuttural Dwarves and
>> > Junk Journalism: Ben Goldacre, Quackbusting and
>> > Corporate
>> > Science.' by Martin Walker
>> >
>> > Quackbuster Dr Ben Goldacre Busted
>> > http://tinyurl.com/3bktoc
>> > by Jane Bryant
>> > The One Click Group
>> >
>> >
> ************************************************************
>> > This information is available on THE ONE CLICK GROUP
>> > website
>> > http://www.theoneclickgroup.co.uk
>> >
> ________________________________________________________________________
>> >
>> > 2a. Re: Vietnam Baby Dies - Hep B Vaccine Withdrawal
>> > Demanded
>> > Posted by: "jacquibutterworth"
>> > jacquibutterworth@yahoo.co.uk jacquibutterworth
>> > Date: Mon Jan 7, 2008 8:37 am ((PST))
>> >
>> > --- In THEONECLICKPROTEST@yahoogroups.com,
>> > "theoneclickgroup"
>> > <theoneclickgroup@...> wrote:
>>> > >
>>> > > PERMISSION TO REPOST
>>> > >
>>> > > Thanh Nien News, Vietnam
>>> > > Baby dies after injection of Hepatitis B vaccine
>>> > > http://tinyurl.com/3cufat
>>> > > 6 January 2008
>>> > > by Nam Son
>>> > >
>>> > > A 44-day-old baby, named Nguyen Ngoc Minh, died
>> > around 2 p.m.
>>> > > on Friday, six hours after having been injected
>> > with Hepatitis
>>> > > B vaccine at Ngoc Thuy Ward medical station in
>> > Hanoi's Long
>>> > > Bien District.
>>> > >
>>> > > According to Dr. Nguyen Thi Thuy, director of Long
>> > Bien District
>>> > > Preventive Health Center, the baby's family agreed
>> > to let the
>>> > > Forensic Department conduct an autopsy on the
>> > infant to determine
>>> > > the cause of death.
>>> > >
>>> > > The center also demanded the Bac Giang General
>> > Hospital to
>>> > > temporarily cease using the Euvax B vaccine, as
>> > well as
>>> > > requesting health officers monitor the health of
>> > the 193
>>> > > babies who were also injected with the vaccine,
>> > produced by
>>> > > South Korean-based LG Co.
>>> > >
>>> > > Reported by Nam Son
>>> > >
>>> > >
>> >
> ************************************************************
>>> > >
>>> > > Thanh Nien News
>>> > > Editor-in-Chief: Nguyen Cong Khe
>>> > > 248 Cong Quynh St . , Distr. 1, Ho Chi Minh City,
>> > Vietnam.
>>> > > Tel: 84 8 8 394 046
>>> > > Fax: 84 8 8 322 025
>>> > > Thanh Nien is the tribune of Vietnam's Youth
>> > Association
>>> > > Publication permit No. 14/GP-BC, granted by Press
>> > Department,
>> > Vietnam
>>> > > Ministry of Culture and Information.
>>> > >
>>> > >
>> >
> ************************************************************
>>> > > This information is available on THE ONE CLICK
>> > GROUP website
>>> > > http://www.theoneclickgroup.co.uk
>>> > >
>> >
> ************************************************************
>>> > >When are parents going to realise that vaccinations
>> > are doing damage
>> > to their children? When are they going to realise
>> > that the drug
>> > companies are making children ill. The cases of
>> > Autism, the increase
>> > in the number of children with mental health
>> > problems should be a
>> > warning to us all. We have got to get together and
>> > stop this. I am
>> > sick and tired of reading of children harmed by so
>> > called 'medication' (Sally Clark and baby Harry was
>> > one of the most
>> > heartrending stories I have ever red along with
>> > Sonia's treatment by
>> > the medical prof)One click is doing a good job but
>> > it needs to be in
>> > all the magor newspapers, television etc.
>> >
>> > What gets me is the fact that the government doesnt
>> > understand why
>> > there is an increase in young people claiming
>> > invalidity benefits!
>> >
>> > Keep up the good work, it was nice to put a face to
>> > your writings
>> > (Daily Mail)
>> >
>> > Happy new year, (bit late I know but thats ME/Lyme
>> > disease for you,
>> >
>> > Regards, Jacqu
> ________________________________________________________________________
>> >
>> > 3a. ONE CLICK ANNOUNCEMENT - NICE JUDICIAL REVIEW
>> > Posted by: "theoneclickgroup"
>> > theoneclickgroup@yahoo.co.uk theoneclickgroup
>> > Date: Mon Jan 7, 2008 8:39 am ((PST))
>> >
>> > **PERMISSION TO REPOST**PERMISSION TO
>> > REPOST**PERMISSION TO REPOST**
>> >
>> > 7 January 2008
>> > ONE CLICK ANNOUNCEMENT
>> > http://tinyurl.com/3a6tmt
>> > CFS/ME NICE GUIDELINES JUDICIAL REVIEW
>> > SUPERB NEWS
>> >
>> > Summary
>> >
>> > After many weeks of negotiation, it gives The One
>> > Click Group
>> > enormous pleasure today to announce that the UK
>> > Legal Services
>> > Commission (Legal Aid http://tinyurl.com/39wjw4))
>> > has written
>> > to our lawyers, Saunders Solicitors LLP
>> > (http://www.saunders.co.uk)
>> > with a without prejudice offer for the funding of
>> > The One Click
>> > Judicial Review of the CFS/ME NICE Guidelines.
>> >
>> > Instead of us having to find the £20,000 that was
>> > our original
>> > target set for the legal fees, we will now need to
>> > find only
>> > £10,250 with the Legal Services Commission (LSC)
>> > proposing
>> > to fund the remainder.
>> >
>> > With this tremendous good news formally received, we
>> > are now
>> > in the position to ask you all to honour your
>> > pledges from
>> > around the world with our new target of £10,250,
>> > much reduced
>> > thanks to the Legal Services Commission (LSC). All
>> > pledgers
>> > will shortly be receiving emails announcing our
>> > extraordinary
>> > good fortune from One Click Group Director Jane
>> > Bryant.
>> >
>> > Background - The One Click NICE Judicial Review
>> >
>> > On 12 October 2007 One Click launched its Legal
>> > Appeal
>> > (http://tinyurl.com/2v68z2) to take the National
>> > Institute
>> > of Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) to the High
>> > Court to
>> > challenge the appalling CFS/ME Guidelines
>> > (http://tinyurl.com/ysxa8v)
>> > by Judicial Review.
>> >
>> > The response to the appeal for the funding of this
>> > legal
>> > action was overwhelming and heart lifting. From all
>> > round the
>> > world, in a matter of months the case was
>> > announced on
>> > 7 September 2007 and the appeal was launched on 12
>> > October
>> > 2007 - a multitudinous number of you pledged support
>> > for the
>> > aimed total of £20,000 to pay for the legal fees.
>> >
>> > Most naturally when such an historic legal event is
>> > occurring,
>> > the psychiatric lobby and some of its most
>> > surprising associates
>> > simultaneously attempted to destabilise our legal
>> > action almost
>> > immediately upon commencement.
>> >
>> > Behind the scenes a number of people were working
>> > hard to upset
>> > the One Click Legal Appeal. Our concern became great
>> > that if
>> > this destabilisation was effective, One Click could
>> > find itself
>> > up against a deadline to begin the Judicial Review
>> > of the
>> > CFS/ME NICE Guidelines with insufficient funding. So
>> > and on
>> > the advice of Saunders, One Click decided to go down
>> > the route
>> > of applying for Legal Aid to fight a publicly funded
>> > case
>> > against NICE on behalf of you all in the name of
>> > young ME/CFS
>> > Borreliosis sufferer, Ben Bryant, The One Click
>> > Group Technical Director.
>> >
>> > The LSC most kindly responded to our plea and a few
>> > weeks ago,
>> > provided us with interim funding to formally appoint
>> > and work
>> > with our barrister, Kate Marcus from Doughty Street
>> > Chambers
>> > (http://www.doughtystreet.co.uk) and to select and
>> > obtain the
>> > expert witnesses we need to prosecute this case.
>> >
>> > This funding of our legal costs by the LSC enabled
>> > One Click
>> > to lodge formal application with the High Court for
>> > Judicial
>> > Review of the CFS/ME NICE Guidelines on 21 November
>> > 2007. See
>> > Press Release 'Health Advocacy Pressure Group
>> > Launches NICE High
>> > Court Action Today' (http://tinyurl.com/yvlz3r).
>> >
>> > The LSC has now written to Saunders and stated
>> > without prejudice
>> > to other funding issues such as merits and
>> > duplication of
>> > proceedings, asked One Click to contribute £10,250
>> > of the
>> > costs of this trial for which they propose to fund
>> > the
>> > remainder.
>> >
>> > One Click Group Director Jane Bryant said: "Today is
>> > a great
>> > day. I would like to sincerely thank the Legal
>> > Services
>> > Commission for their great kindness on our behalf. I
>> > would also
>> > like to thank Saunders and Counsel Kate Marcus from
>> > Doughty
>> > Street Chambers for their excellent work. It is
>> > humbling to see
>> > so many good people on our side and attempting to do
>> > such good
>> > for ME/CFS labelled patients. Above all, I would
>> > like thank YOU
>> > all of you from around the world - who are making
>> > this NICE
>> > Judicial Review possible."
>> >
>> > Below is the information that you will need as to
>> > how to honour
>> > your pledge to challenge the appalling CFS/ME NICE
>> > Guidelines
>> > in High Court. We are making legal history with this
>> > campaign
>> > of which you are the most important intrinsic part.
>> >
>> > The angels have clearly been watching over us with
>> > this case.
>> > We would like to wish all the readers and
>> > contributors to
>> > One Click a VERY Happy New Year 2008.
>> >
>> > ***************
>> >
>> > HOW TO HONOUR YOUR PLEDGE
>> > http://tinyurl.com/ynkvtr
>> > THE ONE CLICK JUDICIAL REVIEW
>> > CFS/ME NICE GUIDELINES
>> >
>> > Thank you so much for all your assistance with
>> > Judicial
>> > Review of the CFS/ME NICE Guidelines. We have put in
>> > place
>> > various ways for you to honour your pledges. Please
>> > read this
>> > document carefully.
>> >
>> > So that all payments are correctly identified by our
>> > solicitors,
>> > can you please mark all communications with them
>> > "One Click
>> > Pledge 45198" and write this on the back of cheques
>> > etc.
>> >
>> > Cheques, Postal Orders or Bankers Drafts
>> >
>> > Please make your cheque, postal order or bankers
>> > draft payable
>> > to Saunders Solicitors LLP and post it to the firm
>> > at the
>> > following address:
>> >
>> > Saunders Solicitors LLP
>> > 10 Aldersgate Street
>> > London EC1A 4HJ
>> > United Kingdom
>> >
>> > Internet Banking
>> >
>> > For those who wish to honour their pledge via
>> > internet banking,
>> > here are the details that you will need:
>> >
>> > Saunders Solicitors LLP Client A/C
>> > Barclays Bank Plc
>> > Hatton Garden Business Centre
>> > Account number: 30565512
>> > Sort Code: 20 37 75
>> >
>> > Credit Cards
>> >
>> > Saunders Solicitors LLP take the following credit
>> > cards.
>> >
>> > Amex
>> > Delta
>> > Electron
>> > JCB
>> > Maestro
>> > Mastercard
>> > Pin Train
>> > Solo
>> > UK Maestro
>> >
>> > Please telephone the firm on this number +44 (0) 20
>> > 7710 6300
>> > to make your credit card payment. Please click on
>> > Saunders
>> > Solicitors LLP Credit Card Payment Form
>> > (http://tinyurl.com/38fu29)
>> > so that you can see what information the firm will
>> > ask for. Using
>> > this form, you may also print it out, fill in the
>> > details and
>> > send your credit card payment by post if you wish to
>> > the firm's
>> > address at:
>> >
>> > Saunders Solicitors LLP
>> > 10 Aldersgate Street
>> > London EC1A 4HJ
>> > United Kingdom
>> >
>> > Once our solicitors have banked our target £10,250
>> > we will
>> > cease collecting the pledges. If funds turn out to
>> > be surplus,
>> > Saunders will only be able to return them to you if
>> > at the time
>> > of donation the firm is given your bank coordinates
>> > name,
>> > address, bank sort code, bank account number and the
>> > title of
>> > the account. We therefore suggest that once you have
>> > honoured
>> > your pledge, you email Saunders Solicitors LLP at
>> > info@saunders.co.uk [info(at)saunders.co.uk] with
>> > these
>> > details, otherwise any surplus funds will be donated
>> > to a
>> > charity of The One Click Group's choice.
>> >
>> > If you have any queries, please email us at
>> > mail@theoneclickgroup.co.uk
>> > [mail(at)theoneclickgroup.co.uk]
>> > with any questions that you might have. Please also
>> > email us
>> > and keep us informed when you have honoured your
>> > pledge and
>> > for how much. It is essential that we keep up to the
>> > minute
>> > records.
>> >
>> > We very much look forward to challenging the CFS/ME
>> > NICE Guidelines
>> > through the High Court.
>> >
>> > Thank you so much! Onwards and upwards for 2008!
>> >
>> > The One Click Group
>> >
>> >
> ************************************************************
>> > This information is available on THE ONE CLICK GROUP
>> > website
>> > http://www.theoneclickgroup.co.uk
>> >
> ________________________________________________________________________
>> >
>> > 3b. Re: ONE CLICK ANNOUNCEMENT - NICE JUDICIAL
>> > REVIEW
>> > Posted by: "MEagenda" me.agenda@virgin.net
>> > meagenda
>> > Date: Mon Jan 7, 2008 10:45 am ((PST))
>> >
>> >
>> > ----- Original Message -----
>> > From: "theoneclickgroup"
>> >
>> > To:
>> > Sent: Monday, January 07, 2008 4:36 PM
>> > Subject: [THEONECLICKPROTEST] ONE CLICK ANNOUNCEMENT
>> > - NICE JUDICIAL REVIEW
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > Very well done, Jane, Ben and everyone who has
>> > worked so hard on this!
>> >
>> > I'll be phoning through my credit card pledge, to
>> > Saunders LLP, first thing
>> > tomorrow morning.
>> >
>> > Let's be having the rest of you!
>> >
>> > Best wishes,
>> >
>> > Suzy
> ________________________________________________________________________
>> >
>> > 4a. One Click Judicial Review Update
>> > Posted by: "Jane Bryant"
>> > janebryant22@yahoo.co.uk janebryant22
>> > Date: Mon Jan 7, 2008 9:30 am ((PST))
>> >
>> > Dear All
>> >
>> > Today is a formidable good news day. It is just
>> > extraodinary how the fates have so beneficially
>> > conspired to help us with the CFS/ME NICE
>> > Guidelines Judicial Review. It is just wonderful
>> > of the Legal Services Commission (LSC) to have
>> > made us this offer. All we have to find between
>> > us from right around the world is £10,250 - that's
>> > a big difference from £20,000! <Huge grin>.
>> >
>> > As you can imagine, a huge amount of work
>> > has been going on behind the scenes to get
>> > us in the most favourable position with which
>> > we are confronted today. Saunders Solicitors
>> > have been so great in making this come about to
>> > benefit us all, as has our barrister.
>> >
>> > I am a tad hard work knackered at the mo. What
>> > with Martin Walker's new book (it's great by the
>> > way)
>> > and the JR news coming out almost simultaneously,
>> > it has been all One Click hands on deck.
>> >
>> > With the One Click Judicial Review, we are set
>> > to hopefully make a massive difference for
>> > patients and this is the best thing that I
>> > could ever have hoped for.
>> >
>> > Technical Director Ben sends his love to you
>> > all and I do too. Between us all from around
>> > the world we have crafted a most formidable
>> > force with which to challenge the psychiatric
>> > lobby and the damage that they have done to us
>> > all for so long. Well done everybody! Very
>> > well done! It's down to all of you that this
>> > is happening!
>> >
>> > Please God and fingers crossed let 2008 mark
>> > a change in our medical fortunes.
>> >
>> > Jane x
> ________________________________________________________________________
>> >
>> > 4b. Re: One Click Judicial Review Update
>> > Posted by: "maymartinfms@aol.com"
>> > maymartinfms@aol.com maym2529
>> > Date: Mon Jan 7, 2008 10:45 am ((PST))
>> >
>> > Hi Jane , this is all good news.
>> > I'm having problems with the download of how to pay
>> > my pledge.
>> > The page is gobbledygook----------------totally
>> > unreadable.
>> > could you maybe send it to me as an e-mail
>> > attachment , as I might be able
>> > to read it this way.
>> > thanks -may.
>> > _maymartinfms@aol.com_ (mailto:maymartinfms@aol.com)
> ________________________________________________________________________
>> >
>> > 4c. One Click Judicial Review Update
>> > Posted by: "jane_colley" jane_colley@yahoo.com
>> > jane_colley
>> > Date: Mon Jan 7, 2008 3:42 pm ((PST))
>> >
>> > Dear Jane
>> >
>> > What fabulous news. I will be off to the building
>> > society to sort out
>> > the cheque within the next couple of days.
>> >
>> > Happy New Year to you and everyone else who supports
>> > the One Click
>> > Campaign
> ________________________________________________________________________
>> >
>> > 4d. Re: One Click Judicial Review Update
>> > Posted by: "Jane Bryant"
>> > janebryant22@yahoo.co.uk janebryant22
>> > Date: Mon Jan 7, 2008 3:51 pm ((PST))
>> >
>> > Dear May
>> >
>> > I have just now uploaded the How To Honour Your
>> > Pledge
>> > file to the One Click Yahoo Members Group. It will
>> > also be my pleasure to email you on the morrow with
>> > the file as an attachment.
>> >
>> > Take care everybody
>> >
>> > Jane x
>> >
>> >
>> > --- In THEONECLICKPROTEST@yahoogroups.com,
>> > maymartinfms@... wrote:
>>> > >
>>> > > Hi Jane , this is all good news.
>>> > > I'm having problems with the download of how to
>> > pay my pledge.
>>> > > The page is gobbledygook----------------totally
>> > unreadable.
>>> > > could you maybe send it to me as an e-mail
>> > attachment , as I might
>> > be able
>>> > > to read it this way.
>>> > > thanks -may.
>>> > > _maymartinfms@..._ (mailto:maymartinfms@...)
> ________________________________________________________________________
>> >
>> > 5a. New file uploaded to THEONECLICKPROTEST
>> > Posted by: "THEONECLICKPROTEST@yahoogroups.com"
>> > THEONECLICKPROTEST@yahoogroups.com
>> > Date: Mon Jan 7, 2008 3:47 pm ((PST))
>> >
>> >
>> > Hello,
>> >
>> > This email message is a notification to let you know
>> > that
>> > a file has been uploaded to the Files area of the
>> > THEONECLICKPROTEST
>> > group.
>> >
>> > File : /HOW TO HONOUR YOUR PLEDGE.doc
>> > Uploaded by : janebryant22
>> >
>> > Description : How To Honour Your Pledge
>> >
>> > You can access this file at the URL:
>> >
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/THEONECLICKPROTEST/files/HOW%20TO%20HONOUR%20YOUR%20PLEDGE.doc
>> >
>> >
>> > To learn more about file sharing for your group,
>> > please visit:
>> >
> http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/groups/original/members/web/index.htmlfiles
>> >
>> > Regards,
>> >
>> > janebryant22
> ________________________________________________________________________
>> >
>> > 5b. New file uploaded to THEONECLICKPROTEST
>> > Posted by: "THEONECLICKPROTEST@yahoogroups.com"
>> > THEONECLICKPROTEST@yahoogroups.com
>> > Date: Tue Jan 8, 2008 1:33 am ((PST))
>> >
>> >
>> > Hello,
>> >
>> > This email message is a notification to let you know
>> > that
>> > a file has been uploaded to the Files area of the
>> > THEONECLICKPROTEST
>> > group.
>> >
>> > File : /HOW TO HONOUR YOUR PLEDGE.doc
>> > Uploaded by : janebryant22
>> >
>> > Description :
>> >
>> > You can access this file at the URL:
>> >
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/THEONECLICKPROTEST/files/HOW%20TO%20HONOUR%20YOUR%20PLEDGE.doc
>> >
>> >
>> > To learn more about file sharing for your group,
>> > please visit:
>> >
> http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/groups/original/members/web/index.htmlfiles
>> >
>> > Regards,
>> >
>> > janebryant22
> ________________________________________________________________________
>> >
>> > 6. Daily Mail: The wake-you-up pill, by Jerome Burne
>> > (thyroid, Dr Skinn
>> > Posted by: "MEagenda" me.agenda@virgin.net
>> > meagenda
>> > Date: Tue Jan 8, 2008 1:28 am ((PST))
>> >
>> > An interesting piece on the GMC "Dr Gordon Skinner
>> > case" and treating for thryoid deficiency when test
>> > results report "normal" levels under current UK
>> > guidelines, by Jerome Burne for the Daily Mail.
>> > Suzy
>> >
>> >
>> > MAY BE REPOSTED
>> >
>> >
> http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/health/healthmain.html?in_article_id=506717&in_page_id=1774
>> >
>> > The wake-you-up pill ...how a controversial thyroid
>> > supplement could help tiredness
>> >
>> >
>> > By JEROME BURNE -
>> >
>> > Last updated at 00:58am on 8th January 2008
>> >
>> >
>> > The first sign of a problem was excessive tiredness.
>> >
>> >
>> > "I started needing a short nap in the afternoon; but
>> > eventually I was sleeping for four hours during the
>> > day," says project manager Ina Whitlam.
>> >
>> > "It wasn't refreshing sleep, it was horrible and
>> > restless. But I couldn't function without it."
>> >
>> > Her condition gradually worsened, so eventually she
>> > was having to sleep most of the day.
>> >
>> > The otherwise fit and healthy 63-year-old had to
>> > give up her job with Age Concern, but even then she
>> > couldn't throw off the feelings of chronic
>> > exhaustion.
>> >
>> > "One day I tried to go to the shops but I couldn't
>> > manage more than a few steps," she recalls. "I had
>> > to give up and go back inside. I sat down and
>> > cried."
>> >
>> > Ina was also suffering from chronic constipation, as
>> > well as very dry skin and thinning hair.
>> >
>> > Specialists were unable to help; her GP simply
>> > dismissed her problem as chronic fatigue syndrome.
>> >
>> > Then four years ago - six years after her symptoms
>> > started - she saw a doctor who suggested the problem
>> > was her thyroid, the tiny gland just below the
>> > Adam's apple.
>> >
>> > He prescribed an artificial form of thyroid hormone,
>> > thyroxine. The benefits were almost immediate, says
>> > Ina. "Within four days my brain had begun to clear
>> > and I was able to start sorting out some papers,"
>> > she says.
>> >
>> > "Gradually, all my other symptoms cleared up. It was
>> > a complete transformation. I now sleep fine and get
>> > up at 7.30am.
>> >
>> > "At the moment, I'm renovating a property - even
>> > doing the plastering myself. Without hormone
>> > treatment I'd be confined to bed."
>> >
>> > A veritable "good news" health story? In fact, last
>> > November, the doctor - Dr Gordon Skinner - appeared
>> > before the General Medical Council charged with
>> > reckless prescribing and was in danger of being
>> > struck off.
>> >
>> > This is because he'd been prescribing thyroxine
>> > contrary to NHS guidelines; these state that
>> > patients should be given hormone treatment only if
>> > blood tests show their levels of thyrotropin (a
>> > thyroid-stimulating hormone) are outside the
>> > "normal" range.
>> >
>> > The problem is that Dr Skinner disagrees with the
>> > official definition of what is "normal." He believes
>> > that many patients, whose blood tests show up as in
>> > the normal range, in fact need thyroxine.
>> >
>> > He also refuses to rely on a blood test alone, but
>> > looks instead at other factors, including symptoms.
>> >
>> > His approach is highly controversial and is rejected
>> > by mainstream doctors in the UK. However, he points
>> > out that in America the official guidelines have
>> > recently been revised - as a result patients who
>> > would be classified as normal in the UK would be
>> > given treatment in America.
>> >
>> > According to some estimates, as many as a million
>> > Britons suffer from poor thyroid function. The
>> > thyroid's job is to produce a number of hormones
>> > that keep the body's various functions working at
>> > the right pace.
>> >
>> > If it produces too much of its hormones, everything
>> > goes too fast - you lose weight, can't sleep and
>> > your heart races; but if it makes too little your
>> > systems slow down - you suffer fatigue, dry skin,
>> > constipation and can have difficulty concentrating.
>> >
>> > The causes can include an infection or the body's
>> > own immune system attacking the gland.
>> >
>> > Although the condition is more common in women, men
>> > can also be affected. Ina initially suspected an
>> > underactive thyroid (also known as hypothyroidism).
>> >
>> > "But when the endocrinologist got my blood test
>> > results back he said coldly: 'You can put that idea
>> > out of your head. Your levels are normal.'"
>> >
>> > After that she had a variety of tests - a colon
>> > examination, a 36-hour test for sleeping problems,
>> > and an investigation for skin cancer because her dry
>> > skin was cracking so badly. But all proved negative.
>> >
>> >
>> > "In the end my GP told me I had chronic fatigue
>> > syndrome and said exasperatedly: "What more do you
>> > expect me to do? You'll have to live with it." Then
>> > he offered me antidepressants.
>> >
>> > "I suffered four more years of misery. My brain felt
>> > as if it was wrapped in fog, I could barely get out
>> > of bed. I couldn't work, so I had no money and
>> > eventually ran up a £15,000 bill on my credit card.
>> >
>> > "I had to sell my 18th-century country cottage to
>> > pay it off."
>> >
>> > Then, in July 2003, she saw Dr Skinner. "He was the
>> > first person to see my symptoms as a whole picture
>> > and he gave me tests for several of the thyroid
>> > hormones. He said my body needed more thyroid
>> > hormone than the official guidelines said and put me
>> > on a replacement, thyroxine."
>> >
>> > Ina Whitlam was just one of many hundreds of
>> > patients who sent testimonies to the General Medical
>> > Council investigation in Dr Skinner's support.
>> >
>> > A dozen more patients appeared before the panel
>> > itself and told similar stories. Among them was
>> > Della Rhodes, a business woman and the head of a
>> > large company.
>> >
>> > She described how, despite always playing sport,
>> > she'd suddenly put on 30lb, and had begun to feel
>> > extremely tired, while finding it increasingly hard
>> > to make vital decisions at work.
>> >
>> > Her doctor had told her to join Weight Watchers and
>> > a gym. "Dr Skinner was the first person to really
>> > listen to me," she said. "Within two weeks of
>> > starting thyroxine my symptoms began to clear up."
>> >
>> > Paul Shopland gave a harrowing account of how his
>> > son Chris, diagnosed at the age of nine with chronic
>> > fatigue syndrome, lost ten years of his life.
>> >
>> > "Some of the time he couldn't leave his bed," said
>> > Paul. "Chris was effectively confined to home. He
>> > couldn't go to school so his education came to a
>> > stop and he was virtually friendless."
>> >
>> > During that time the only treatment he was offered
>> > was "pacing" - gradually increasing the amount of
>> > activity he did.
>> >
>> > Last year, however, after seeing Dr Skinner and
>> > being prescribed thyroxine, he went rock climbing in
>> > the Cheddar Gorge; a year after starting hormone
>> > therapy his symptoms had gone.
>> >
>> > It seemed a bizarre situation: a doctor who was in
>> > danger of having his career ruined because he had
>> > helped hundreds of patients who, until they found
>> > him, feared there was no help for their condition.
>> >
>> > And yet, according to Professor Tony Weetman,
>> > president of the British Thyroid Association and one
>> > of the expert witnesses testifying against Dr
>> > Skinner, what most of these patients were really
>> > suffering from was "somatoform disorder," meaning
>> > that their symptoms were largely psychological. They
>> > just thought they were ill; the thyroxine acted as a
>> > kind of placebo.
>> >
>> > Furthermore, the evidence shows that treating
>> > patients whose tests are normal makes no difference,
>> > says Dr Colin Dayan, a consultant senior lecturer in
>> > endocrinology at the University of Bristol.
>> >
>> > "And we are worried that giving them thyroid
>> > replacement therapy when they don't need it could
>> > put them at risk of stroke, heart problems and
>> > osteoporosis later on."
>> >
>> > Professor Weetman agrees it can be dangerous to
>> > treat those in the normal range: "Many people in
>> > their 50s and 60s may experience fatigue and weight
>> > gain, so the blood test has been invaluable in
>> > diagnosing those who have thyroid problems and those
>> > who haven't," he says.
>> >
>> > "Doctors who collude with these patients and treat
>> > them for an illness they don't have could overlook a
>> > genuine and more serious diagnosis such as cancer or
>> > liver disease."
>> >
>> > But this assumes that everybody reacts in the same
>> > way to their thyroid levels; Dr Skinner and his
>> > patients believe they don't.
>> >
>> > What's more, the "healthy" levels for other body
>> > chemicals such as cholesterol have been changed
>> > recently.
>> >
>> > In fact, whether you are found to be inside or
>> > outside the normal range can depend on where the
>> > test is being done.
>> >
>> > One of the patients who testified for Dr Skinner had
>> > been declared in Germany to have an underactive
>> > thyroid but was "healthy" in the UK.
>> >
>> > The difference between the test levels in the UK and
>> > America is even more striking.
>> >
>> > The test for low thyroid measures levels of thyroid
>> > stimulating hormone. In the UK "normal" levels are
>> > defined as between 0.5 and 5. In America the range
>> > is 0.3 to 3, which means more Americans are
>> > diagnosed as hypothyroid.
>> >
>> > The situation has been made even more confusing by
>> > the result of Dr Skinner's hearing. Even though he
>> > was found guilty of "reckless prescribing" and
>> > "impaired ability to practice" the General Medical
>> > Council has decided that he should be allowed to
>> > continue treating patients in the way he has been.
>> > The main limitation that has been put on him is that
>> > he can take on new patients only if they have been
>> > referred by a GP. His clinical procedures also have
>> > to be checked by the Council every six months for
>> > the next three years.
>> >
>> > A major factor in this decision was undoubtedly the
>> > emotional testimonials of his grateful patients.
>> >
>> > In her summing up, the chairlady of the panel
>> > hearing the case said: "It is clear that you are a
>> > caring and compassionate doctor whose overwhelming
>> > concern is the care and well-being of your patients,
>> > many of whom have pleaded that you should be allowed
>> > to continue to practice."
>> >
>> > Since the hearing, new research has suggested that
>> > patients with levels of 1.4 to 4.99 (officially
>> > "normal" in the UK) were at a greater risk of
>> > developing thyroid cancer.
>> >
>> > Giving a thyroid supplement reduces these levels -
>> > but this won't be happening under current UK
>> > guidelines.
>> >
>> > Dr Dayan says the key is more research. "I wouldn't
>> > treat outside the normal levels myself. But provided
>> > patients are made fully aware of the risks, and if
>> > blood tests were taken and they were monitored
>> > properly, I think there may be a case for it."
>> >
>> > Thyroid Patient Advocacy-UK; www.tpa-uk.org.uk;
>> > British Thyroid Foundation; www.btf-thyroid.org ;
>> > Thyroid UK www.thyroiduk.org
> ________________________________________________________________________
>> >
>> > 7. Judicial Review - Visa Card
>> > Posted by: "Jane Bryant"
>> > janebryant22@yahoo.co.uk janebryant22
>> > Date: Tue Jan 8, 2008 1:43 am ((PST))
>> >
>> > Dear All
>> >
>> > Things are amazing over at One Click Judicial Review
>> > HQ this morning. From Oz, America and
>> > everywhere,people
>> > are honouring their pledges. The lawyers have been
>> > on
>> > to me and instructed that they take Visa card as
>> > well,
>> > so I have updated the How To Honour Your Pledge file
>> > to
>> > include this information and have uploaded it to the
>> > Group.
>> >
>> > Ben will be making a How To Honour Your Pledge
>> > button for
>> > the website today. It's just incredible what's
>> > going on! :)
>> > It's uplifting, heartwarming and extraordinary!
>> >
>> > People have been emailing and asking when the
>> > Judicial Review is going to start. The answer is
>> > that this is in the hands of the courts and it is
>> > a long process. Firstly, we have to show the Legal
>> >
>> > Services Commission that we can raise the target
>> > £10,250
>> > that they have asked for. Then the legal team and
>> > the courts
>> > get busy. On One Click we will keep you informed as
>> > soon as we have developments.
>> >
>> > Jane x
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> > Yahoo! Groups Links
>> >
>> > <*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
>> >
>> > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/THEONECLICKPROTEST/
>> >
>> > <*> Your email settings:
>> > Digest Email | Traditional
>> >
>> > <*> To change settings online go to:
>> >
>> >
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/THEONECLICKPROTEST/join
Msssages end in 3 days time ... FIN?
date: Tue, 08 Jan 2008 13:55:29 +0000
author: Spencer Spindrift
|
