Welcome to Dr. Armand Rossi`s newsletter:

Kid`s Unlimited

March 23, 2006

Kid`s Unlimited is a monthly newsletter of various articles, funnies, tidbits and opinions relating to our children and chiropractic. My opinions will always be in red and italicized. Please feel free to share the appropriate articles with patients, friends and other chiropractors. I never buy any lists or put names on my email list unless the names were given to me directly. If you wish to be removed from the list, just type the word "remove" in the subject line and reply back to me.

Together we will make a difference.

Yours in Chiropractic,

Armand M. Rossi

Below are pictures of Dr. Rossi and his grandbabies, Bailey and Avery

Well it has now happened twice in the last 2 weeks. I had a couple of new practice members come into the office. Both were referred to me because of this totally unique thing that I do here in my office. I adjust. That`s right. They came to me after each one going to 2 or 3 different chiropractors who wouldn`t adjust them. One did get an adjustment, but that wasn`t the major event of that office visit. The acupuncture and therapy was. Thank God that they once went to a real chiropractor and knew what an adjustment was. They both continued to search until they found one who would actually adjust.

I listened to Reggie Gold this weekend at our monthly philosophy meeting. It was really good to hear him again after many years. He certainly didn`t mellow out through the times and I`m glad he is the same.

He reminded us of a story that Sid Williams used to say. If you put a frog in boiling water, he would jump out immediately. But if you put the frog in cool water, he would be quite content and stay there. If you slowly turned up the heat of the water, the frog would continue to stay there and be quite comfortable. If you turned up the heat some more, the frog would become tired and almost sleep without moving. Turn up the heat some more and the frog now can`t move, would eventually be killed from the boiling water, and be cooked.

Principled chiropractors have to be careful. We can be like those frogs. We definitely would jump out of boiling water. But the medical community is slowly turning up the heat, making us comfortable, lazy and eventually we die and are cooked.

Be vigilant!! Stop being lazy!! Keep the waters cool and free for chiropractic to flourish.

Report raises flag on fluoride

By Elizabeth Weise, USA TODAY

3/23/06

Government limits on fluoride in drinking water aren`t protecting the public from possible tooth and bone damage, a prestigious advisory panel says.

The Environmental Protection Agency allows so much fluoride that some children in areas with unusually high natural fluoride levels are developing discolored teeth and weakened tooth enamel, according to the report from the National Academies` National Research Council.

The council notes that municipalities in areas with low or no fluoride in their water add low levels of the compound to drinking water to help prevent tooth decay, but water supplies in some areas have much higher amounts of naturally occurring fluoride. Industrial pollution also can increase the levels.

The EPA`s ceiling on fluoride in drinking water is 4 milligrams per liter, or 4 parts per million. That`s four times the concentration recommended to fight cavities, which is 0.7 to 1.2 parts per million, the American Dental Association says.

"Fluoride is nature`s cavity fighter," the ADA said in a prepared statement. "Fluoride makes the entire tooth structure more resistant to decay."

Drinking water presents the greatest exposure to fluoride, says John Doull, chairman of the panel and emeritus professor of pharmacology and toxicology at the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City.

States that have regions with levels of natural fluoride at or above the EPA`s maximum containment level include Colorado, Indiana, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia. About 200,000 Americans live in areas where drinking water contains fluoride levels over the EPA standard, the report says.

At those levels, 10% of children younger than 8, whose adult teeth are still developing, get severe enamel fluorosis. The condition is characterized by discoloration and pitting of the teeth and loss of enamel, the panel says.

The report notes that infants and young children are exposed to three to four times as much fluoride as adults because of their low body weight. But adults are vulnerable because of fluoride accumulation in bones.

People exposed to water at or above the EPA`s upper limit over a lifetime are at increased risk for bone fractures and a rare, crippling bone-and-joint condition called skeletal fluorosis, the panel finds.

Though a few studies appear to show a connection between fluoride and bone cancer, the National Academies committee called the results "tentative and mixed." A large study at the Harvard School of Dental Medicine is expected to shed some light on the subject this summer.

Tim Kropp of the Environmental Working Group, a research organization based in Washington, D.C., says fluoride should be limited to toothpaste. "It really only makes sense to put it where it works and don`t put it where it can cause harm," he says.

The study was sponsored by the EPA. The council is the operating arm of the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering, advising the government on science and technology.

In New Health Plan, Patients
Pay Their Share -- Or Else

By SARAH RUBENSTEIN
March 13, 2006;

(See Corrections & Amplifications item below.)

Health insurers are starting to look to patients` credit cards -- and paychecks -- to ensure hospitals and doctors don`t get stiffed.

As health plans impose higher deductibles, co-pays and premiums, many patients are becoming slower to pay their portion of hospital and doctor bills, driving up providers` collection costs and bad-debt accounts. A major insurer, UnitedHealth Group Inc., is set to offer an automatic-payment program that would give providers a strong measure of assurance that patients will pay -- because if they don`t, UnitedHealth will get the money, with interest, out of their paychecks.

The pilot program, which UnitedHealth is set to launch in Texas in April, is one of several initiatives by insurers to get patients to pay their bills promptly. UnitedHealth says the goal is greater convenience for all involved in the payment process. "This is one way to move all of the minutiae back into what we do and make the experience simpler for all the people that matter here -- patient, doctor and their employer," says Tracy Bahl, chief executive of Uniprise, a UnitedHealth unit that oversees consumer-driven health plans.

UnitedHealth, based in Minnetonka, Minn., stands to gain in part because its clients -- large employers -- may see lower costs. Tenet Healthcare Corp., the Dallas-based hospital company, says its 14 Texas hospitals enrolled in the pilot will probably accept discounted payments from employers or patients for the care the hospitals provide. "Any sacrifice we would make would be offset by the gain we would get on those additional collections," says Stephen Mooney, Tenet`s vice president of patient financial services.

Tenet spokesman Harry Anderson says while collecting from the uninsured remains a bigger problem, slow payments from the insured are a growing concern. "The higher the amount owed by the patient, the worse the problem is," he says.

Under the new program, dubbed "OnePay," UnitedHealth will pay a patient`s portion directly to a provider as soon as it processes an insurance claim. Then, it will collect from the patient, with payment due in 20 days. If patients can`t pay 100% of their portion right away, UnitedHealth will act as a creditor, steadily receiving payments, plus interest, deducted from the patient`s paychecks until the bill is paid in full.

UnitedHealth says it will charge interest at the prime rate -- currently 7.5% -- not the double-digit rates many credit cards apply. It says employees, and medical providers, enroll in the program on a voluntary basis.

What`s in it for employees? Convenience is a major attraction for health-care consumers overwhelmed by the paperwork and the technicalities of health-care and hospital billing, the insurer says. In focus groups, lower-income consumers said availability of low interest rates and a structured payment plan was appealing, UnitedHealth says. Plus, UnitedHealth says enrolled patients would feel the discounts from participating providers.

Telecommunications company AT&T Inc. may be among the early employers to sign up for OnePay. An AT&T spokesman says the company has told UnitedHealth it has "an interest in looking at" the program. Tenet, in addition to participating as a provider, says it will participate as an employer, offering OnePay to its employees in Texas. UnitedHealth also is participating as an employer, with its employees in Texas.

Despite the benefits patients may perceive, some in the health-care industry say they worry the push to automate medical-bill payments poses risks, because medical bills can be so steep and complicated. Patients may be less likely to review bills paid automatically, and they usually won`t be able to challenge potential errors before the provider is paid.

WageWorks Inc., of San Mateo, Calif., says it can offer automatic payment services in its administration of health-savings accounts and other tax-advantaged accounts for employers. But it says it rarely advises patients to set up their accounts that way: Insurance claims are complicated, and it often isn`t clear who owes what, says Scott Halstead, the company`s chief executive. "People are better off waiting until after the adjudication process and they agree, `Yes, this is my out-of-pocket responsibility.` "

For patients challenging medical charges or insurance-coverage decisions, UnitedHealth says it will stop the clock, freezing the 20-day deadline, interest accumulation and paycheck deductions. If their money has already moved, patients will have to make their case to have payments returned to them, UnitedHealth says.

Paycheck deductions won`t kick in right away: To collect money a patient owes, UnitedHealth will turn first to an available patient health-care account, such as a corporate tax-advantaged flexible-spending account or a health-savings account at a bank. Patients who don`t want to dip into their health-savings account can opt to skip this step and use other personal funds to pay the bill.

But when a patient lacks such an account, or when the bill is bigger than the account balance, UnitedHealth will seek payment of a first installment in 20 days. After that, payments are deducted straight from the employee`s paycheck.

UnitedHealth says participating employers determine at what level to set paycheck deductions, with maximums varying according to the demographics of a company`s work force. One employer has decided on $100 per month, UnitedHealth says.

UnitedHealth says one reason it can offer a relatively low interest rate is that the option to collect via paycheck deductions reduces its financial risk. Consumers who have recently declared personal bankruptcy aren`t eligible for OnePay. UnitedHealth will resume billing employees who leave a job at a OnePay company.

In 2002, UnitedHealth chartered its own bank, Exante, which will serve as lender for employers participating in OnePay, in effect extending lines of credit for employees to pay health-care expenses. UnitedHealth moved into the banking business as the Bush administration began promoting health-savings accounts, which banks have started offering as a way for people enrolled in high-deductible plans to save pretax dollars to cover future out-of-pocket medical expenses.

Many providers are taking steps to collect from patients with high deductibles. Deductibles are "a great sticker shock and cultural shock" for patients, says Nathan Beraha, a Lincoln, R.I., pediatrician. His multispecialty group practice often asks patients with health-savings accounts and high deductibles to put down a $75 deposit before getting treated. "Once they leave the office, it`s sometimes more difficult to collect," he says.

Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield, a New York unit of WellPoint Inc., and American Express Co. have started a program to offer a health-care credit line to Empire patients with health-savings accounts. Patients swipe their "HealthPay Plus" card at the doctor`s office: Empire processes and pays the insured portion of the claim, and American Express pays the patient`s portion, billing the patient for that amount. Interest rates will vary according to employer, American Express says.

Meanwhile, Aetna Inc. and Highmark Inc., a Pittsburgh Blue Cross and Blue Shield company, say later this year they plan to offer patients a way to authorize automatic payments to medical providers out of their health-savings accounts. Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans in Texas, Illinois and New Mexico currently offer automatic payment for these accounts.

Gail Shearer, director of health-policy analysis at Consumers Union, says automatic-payment programs "can offer some convenience to consumers." But the programs can pose a problem, she adds, "if [patients] are concerned that because of their health status they may not be able to monitor the bills as carefully as they`d like."

Corrections & Amplifications:

This article originally said that an employer planning to participate in UnitedHealth Group Inc.`s "OnePay" program has decided its maximum paycheck deduction will be $100 per paycheck. Actually, the figure is $100 per month.

Study Links Asthma to Antibiotics

Babies Given the Medication
Before Their First Birthdays
Are Said to Be at Higher Risk

By ELENA CHERNEY
March 14, 2006;

Babies treated with antibiotics before their first birthdays are more likely to develop asthma, according to a study published today in the journal Chest.

Researchers at the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, British Columbia, analyzed eight studies from around the world that looked at a total of 12,082 children. They found that children diagnosed with asthma, which is the most common chronic illness in children, were twice as likely as nonasthmatics to have had antibiotics as infants.

A child uses a nebulizer in order to inhale medication.

The study could shed light on the role that exposure to common microbes might play in the development of immune-response conditions such as asthma. Investigators have been trying for years to understand why rates of allergy and asthma, a lung disease in which airways narrow and breathing becomes difficult, have soared in developed countries since the 1960s.

Many researchers argue that part of the answer could lie in the way in which children`s exposure to germs has changed in recent decades. With most children growing up in smaller families and spending more time indoors than their parents and grandparents, children have less contact with common bugs. Since the 1960s, they have also been more likely to be treated with broad-spectrum antibiotics that kill nondisease-causing bacteria along with the disease-causing bacteria.

Clean, germ-free living may actually leave children more susceptible to developing allergies and asthma, a theory known as the "hygiene hypothesis." "We may be programmed to sample the microbial world so our immune systems can grow," says Homer A. Boushey, who directs the Asthma Clinical Research Center at the University of California at San Francisco. "Children are being raised with far lower exposure to microbes and the products that [microbes] make," says Joel Kline, director of the University of Iowa Asthma Center in Iowa City. Exposure to microbes and their byproducts "appears to activate the immune system," says Dr. Kline.

Antibiotic use in infancy could also hamper the development of a baby`s immune response. Some studies have shown that babies who have taken antibiotics have different levels of disease-fighting cells in their diapers than babies who have not been on medication. That could signal a change in how the children`s immune system is regulating its defenses against infection. "We may have altered the normal development of the immune system," says Fernando Martinez, a professor at the University of Arizona in Tucson.

While the Vancouver researchers said their study had some limitations, they concluded that "the use of antibacterials in the first year of life is associated with the subsequent development of asthma." All eight studies reviewed showed the same trend, but the connection between antibiotic use and asthma was statistically significant only in the four retrospective studies.

Those studies, in which parents were later asked to recall whether children had taken antibiotics as babies, are considered less reliable than studies in which researchers follow children as they develop. Still, the review of the studies is the strongest link to date between antibiotic exposure and asthma, said Carlo A. Marra, one of the study`s authors.

Some of the studies also showed that additional courses of antibiotics put children at even greater risk of developing asthma. But the weaker connection between the drugs and asthma in some of the studies reviewed "makes one cautious," he said. The research was funded by a provincial-government grant.

Other factors could also be clouding the studies. Young children with allergic respiratory symptoms that are precursors to developing asthma may be prescribed antibiotics "because people are misinterpreting their symptoms" as signs of a bacterial sickness requiring antibiotics, says Thomas Platts-Mills, chief of the department of allergy at the University of Virginia medical school. Those children might well have developed asthma anyway -- and were just more likely to be improperly prescribed antibiotics because of their early symptoms, Dr. Platts-Mills says.

The role of early exposure to bugs remains controversial among experts. Some point to the severity of asthma among poor, inner-city children in the U.S. as a hole in the "hygiene hypothesis" explanation, noting that if germ exposure helped to protect children against the condition, rates would be lower among children living in less sanitized conditions.

One study has suggested that exposure to certain bacteria could help to stimulate the immune system to prevent the development of allergic responses. A group of Finnish researchers found that young children who were given a probiotic called Lactobacillus had a lower rate of eczema, an allergic skin condition. Since many children with eczema go on to develop asthma, "we`re all waiting for the other shoe to drop -- what are these kids like at age five," says Dr. Boushey.

Germ exposure is likely to turn out to be only one of many factors that influence a child`s chances of developing asthma or allergies. "I thought it was all dust mites in the 1980s," says Dr. Platts-Mills. Genetics, and the interaction between a person`s genetics and environment, also likely plays a role, says Dr. Martinez

URL for this article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB114228613531396957.html

Blood-Substitute Study
criticized by federal agency

By THOMAS M. BURTON
March 10, 2006;

A little-known federal agency charged with protecting patients in medical research has expressed ethical concerns about a study of a Northfield Laboratories Inc. blood substitute being given to hundreds of trauma patients without their consent.

Criticism of the 720-patient trial has been mounting from doctors and medical-ethics officials as a key senator is investigating the Northfield trial. Two hospitals participating in the study have suspended enrolling patients in it since a Wall Street Journal story about the study was published Feb. 22.

The federal Office for Human Research Protections has expressed "urgent ethical concerns" to the Food and Drug Administration about the conduct of the trauma study, says Sen. Charles Grassley, the Iowa Republican who is chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. Sen. Grassley declined to elaborate, but committee investigators are planning to meet with OHRP officials today to be briefed on the agency`s concerns.

OHRP is the part of the Department of Health and Human Services that monitors research practices in government trials. While the FDA has overseen Northfield`s research -- and granted the company permission to do the current study without gaining patients` consent -- the OHRP has offered criticism of Northfield`s latest study.

At issue is a study of the experimental blood substitute PolyHeme, made by Northfield, Evanston, Ill. The artificial blood is being infused into 360 badly injured and hemorrhaging trauma patients, while 360 others get saline solution in the ambulance, then donor blood at the hospital. Few patients will know whether they get PolyHeme or blood and many won`t know they are participating.

Northfield previously tested PolyHeme in a study of aneurysm-surgery patients. In that trial, 10 of 81 patients given the blood substitute suffered heart attacks, including two who died. None of the 71 patients on standard therapy, including donor blood, had heart attacks. Northfield halted the trial in late 2001 without completing it.

The company has said the heart attacks and other adverse events -- such as heart-rhythm aberrations and pneumonia -- could have been caused by an excess of total fluids given to PolyHeme patients. The deaths and heart attacks weren`t publicly disclosed by Northfield or most of the hospitals to patients and their communities while publicizing the new study over the past two years. Northfield didn`t comment about the OHRP actions.

The FDA allowed Northfield to conduct the new study without getting patients` consent because the agency feels that new therapies that hold promise for improved trauma treatment, such as blood substitutes, can`t practically be tested if doctors must wait to ask oft-unconscious patients for permission. The agency also said "regulations provide medical, legal and ethical safeguards for this kind of research endeavor" and that it "will continue to explore how best to guide these kinds of studies."

Sen. Grassley is investigating whether patients in the new study are aware of the previous study`s deaths and heart attacks, and whether it`s appropriate to conduct the new study without patients` consent.

William Hoffman, chief of cardiac-surgery intensive care at Massachusetts General Hospital and former medical director of Biopure Corp., a blood-substitute company in Cambridge, Mass., says the FDA "should have monitored what went on in the communities in terms of informing people" about deaths and heart attacks.

The new Northfield study is also drawing questions about whether it`s ethical to withhold donor blood from study patients when the benefits of PolyHeme are as yet uncertain. In the current issue of the journal Ethics & Human Research, Nancy M.P. King, a social-medicine professor at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, writes that denying half of the patients blood in the hospital doesn`t meet a key FDA criterion for allowing a non-consent trial, which is that standard therapy be "unproven or unsatisfactory."

"In the hospital setting, [donor] blood is neither," she writes along with colleagues from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and the University of Hawaii.

An October 2004 FDA draft document entitled Guidance to Industry also raises questions about whether blood should be withheld from patients. "In the hospital setting," it said, "the use of [a blood substitute] would not be expected to result in a survival advantage over the use of red blood cells."

Northfield said that donor blood "may not be the optimal treatment for the early care of trauma patients, and PolyHeme is being evaluated as a potential better alternative." A spokeswoman said Northfield is "on strong scientific, legal and ethical ground."

From ChiroWeb:

Confronting Chiropractic`s War at Home

by Gerard Clum, DC, and Lisa Burnstein Ramirez

"War is a poetic time to learn, firsthand, that there remain deep prejudices within our American medical community."
– Lt. Colonel Christopher Zelez, DC

Make eye contact with this deeply weathered Marine, and you`re soon riveted by the weight of his penetrating gaze. This is a hardened military man who has navigated years of high-stakes, serious terrain. Two tours of duty in Iraq, piloting armed helicopters while also facilitating labyrinthine networks of supply lines and operations on the ground, certainly would qualify as serious.

Intense, but not uneasy, Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Zelez seems inured to the ravages of living in a war zone. His message is steely and proud. Clearly, he`s at peace with his role in America`s most recent, albeit increasingly controversial war. But in spite of his dedication, one can detect a certain sadness and even disillusionment.

Without question, Lt. Colonel Zelez remains as passionate as ever about defending our American way of life; but while in Iraq, his respect for our country was tainted – not by the proverbial blood-stained, post-trauma baggage one might expect, but by the revelation that another insidious war still lurks at home. It is a war that should have been won a long time ago; a war that also threatens his "way of life."

"War is a poetic time to have to learn, firsthand, that there remain deep prejudices within our American medical community," waxes Lt. Colonel Zelez, a licensed chiropractor from Pennsylvania. "It`s all about the relevance and credibility of chiropractic. The frustration I experienced in Iraq was a painful wake-up call."

Unfortunately, the prejudices that define the chiropractic profession`s "war at home" found their way across thousands of miles of ocean and desert to rear their treacherous heads at a place and time when human suffering was at its worst.

"The ironies of this abound," chuckles Zelez. "There was so much need, and I was so ready to help." And he did until the system put a halt to his efforts.

"I didn`t go to Iraq as a chiropractor," he says. "When I signed up, I was 23 years old and prepared to fight for my country. After graduating from Penn State, I was eager for a challenging job, but with a recession and no job prospects in sight, I joined up, plain and simple."

An active-duty Marine from 1983–1994, Lt. Colonel Zelez sustained a serious back injury in 1992, prior to his first tour of duty in the Middle East. The ensuing pain was severe and protracted, and it stymied medical doctors. Desperate for relief, he was forced to seek treatment off base from a chiropractor at his own expense.

Within days of receiving chiropractic care, his life was literally and figuratively reconfigured. Without knowing it, a gifted chiropractor had not only resurrected this young Marine`s life; he also had redirected it.

Zelez`s stunning recovery prompted a curious respect for a discipline he knew little about. Eager to learn more, his personal experience ultimately inspired this young officer`s decision to become a chiropractor. In 1994, Lt. Colonel Zelez transferred to the reserves and began his studies at Life University, where he eventually earned his doctorate and became a licensed chiropractor.

"The decision to become a chiropractor was a very validating one. I knew I`d found something I could do the rest of my life that I believed in deeply." Dr. Zelez subsequently practiced chiropractic in a private setting in Philadelphia, until he was recalled to active duty in January 2004.

When Zelez returned to Iraq in 2004, he returned as a commissioned officer, but word soon got out that a trained chiropractor was in their midst. It wasn`t long before desperate soldiers, American civilians engaged in rebuilding Iraq`s infrastructure, and even Navy doctors started seeking him out for relief.

Under the existing military command, Lt. Colonel Zelez was not only allowed, but also encouraged to treat people during his free time. As such, in addition to his military duties as Current Operations Officer and Senior Watch Officer, Zelez saw a handful of people on a daily basis for chiropractic care.

"People came from the hinterlands with stress, back and neck injuries," he notes.

Dr. Zelez routinely received referrals from Navy doctors, and was actually requested to write an opinion in one particularly complex case. He considered his work at the time to be "very rewarding."

Then in the winter of 2005, there was a change in command, and the new general was swayed by recently appointed Naval doctors to assume a very different posture on this chiropractic initiative. Amid concerns about the issues of practicing without a license in Iraq, fears of liability and dictates of the Geneva Convention, Zelez was directed to refrain from further chiropractic activity, regardless of the pain and suffering that surrounded him.

"That`s what`s so ironic about this," says Zelez. "As if watching the toll that war takes on humanity isn`t enough, I had to sit by and allow people to suffer who I knew I could help, but was officially prohibited from doing so."

Like many believers, Dr. Zelez contends that the chiropractic profession`s unrelenting challenge is a war that could and should be won based on science and reason. But he understands that some wars are particularly tenacious because they feed on prejudice, fear and ignorance.

"Winning this war is going to take more," he admits. "The war that needs to be waged to finally, fully legitimize chiropractic care in the eyes of the American public and medical system, is a war begging to be fought."

Today, there are approximately 2 million patients in VA hospitals across America, with only 30 chiropractors to serve them.

"Unless we do something that is broadly supported, strategic and sustained, chiropractors will always be second-class citizens, relegated to the sidelines even during military conflicts when stress-related and physical injury abounds, especially with the spine and neck," Zelez says.

"My experience in Iraq only highlights the urgency of our situation. Thankfully, however, we have been fortunate to have just the right person with just the right credibility and passion at just the right juncture in history to spearhead our cause. Gene Veno has been that point man. He`s been crafting a truly comprehensive national strategy to build respect and demand for chiropractic. As a career military man, I know opportunity when I see it. I can smell it. And I`m convinced it`s time to put our resources behind the Campaign for Chiropractic. If we ever stood a chance of winning once and for all, it`s now."

To back up his words, Dr. Zelez is an enthusiastic financial supporter of the national campaign to generate greater respect, appreciation and demand for chiropractic care. Zelez only hopes increasing numbers of chiropractors will be likewise inspired.

"Looking back at my experience in Iraq, I guess I always thought the `glass ceiling` in American culture was experienced by women and ethnic minorities. I guess I thought wrong."

Dr. Zelez is currently readjusting to life as a civilian. He resides with his wife and son, and plans to open a private chiropractic practice in Greater Philadelphia, where he can continue his life`s work.

The profession needs to inspire other doctors of chiropractic to see the value in supporting the Campaign for Chiropractic, just as this Marine, one of our own, has seen the wisdom and urgency to do so.

Editor`s note: In the Sept. 14, 2005 issue of DC, we reprinted an article originally published in The Eagle and the Crescent, the official newspaper of the II Marine Expeditionary Force (FWD). "Chiropractor Helps Comrades While on the Lookout for Insurgents" highlighted Lt. Colonel Zelez and his care of fellow Marines while stationed in Al Asad, Iraq, as a UH-1N Huey pilot with Marine Light/Attack Helicopter Squadron 775. To read that article in its entirety, visit www.chiroweb.com/archives/23/19/02.html.

Gerard Clum, DC, is president of Life Chiropractic College West and a Foundation for Chiropractic Progress board member; Lisa Burnstein Ramirez is a freelance writer and chiropractic advocate. To support the F4CP and the chiropractic profession, visit www.foundation4cp.com and make your pledge.

CATHOLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL TEST RESULTS

CATHOLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL TEST KIDS WERE ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. THE FOLLOWING STATEMENTS ABOUT THE BIBLE WERE WRITTEN BY CHILDREN AND HAVE NOT BEEN RETOUCHED OR CORRECTED. INCORRECT SPELLING HAS BEEN LEFT IN.

1. IN THE FIRST BOOK OF THE BIBLE, GUINESSIS. GOD GOT TIRED OF CREATING THE WORLD SO HE TOOK THE SABBATH OFF.
2. ADAM AND EVE WERE CREATED FROM AN APPLE TREE. NOAH`S WIFE WAS JOAN OF ARK. NOAH BUILT ANDARK AND THE ANIMALS CAME ON IN PEARS.
3. LOTS WIFE WAS A PILLAR OF SALT DURING THE DAY, BUT A BALL OF FIRE DURING THE NIGHT.
4. THE JEWS WERE A PROUD PEOPLE AND THROUGHOUT HISTORY THEY HAD TROUBLE WITH UNSYMPATHETIC GENITALS.
5. SAMPSON WAS A STRONGMAN WHO LET HIMSELF BE LED ASTRAY BY A JEZEBEL LIKE DELILAH.
6. SAMSON SLAYED THE PHILISTINES WITH THE AXE OF THE APOSTLES.
7. MOSES LED THE JEWS TO THE RED SEA WHERE THEY MADE UNLEAVENED BREAD WHICH IS BREAD WITHOUT ANY INGREDIENTS.
8, THE EGYPTIANS WERE ALL DROWNED IN THE DESSERT. AFTERWARDS, MOSES WENT UP TO MOUNTCYANIDE TO GET THE TEN COMMANDMENTS.
9. THE FIRST COMMANDMENTS WAS WHEN EVE TOLD ADAM TO EAT THE APPLE.
10. THE SEVENTH COMMANDMENT IS THOU SHALT NOT ADMIT ADULTERY.
11. MOSES DIED BEFORE HE EVER REACHED CANADA. THEN JOSHUA LED THE HEBREWS IN THE BATTLE OF GERITOL.
12. THE GREATEST MIRICLE IN THE BIBLE IS WHEN JOSHUA TOLD HIS SON TO STAND STILL AND HE OBEYED HIM.
13. DAVID WAS A HEBREW KING WHO WAS SKILLED AT PLAYING THE LIAR. HE FOUGHT THE FINKELSTEINS, A RACE OF PEOPLE WHO LIVED IN BIBLICAL TIMES.
14. SOLOMON, ONE OF DAVIDS SONS, HAD 300 WIVES AND 700 PORCUPINES.
15. WHEN MARY HEARD SHE WAS THE MOTHER OF JESUS, SHE SANG THE MAGNA CARTA.
16. WHEN THE THREE WISE GUYS FROM THE EAST SIDE ARRIVED THEY FOUND JESUS IN THE MANAGER.
17. JESUS WAS BORN BECAUSE MARY HAD AN IMMACULATE CONTRAPTION.
18. ST. JOHN THE BLACKSMITH DUMPED WATER ON HIS HEAD.
19. JESUS ENUNCIATED THE GOLDEN RULE, WHICH SAYS TO DO UNTO OTHERS BEFORE THEY DO ONE TO YOU. HE ALSO EXPLAINED A MAN DOTH NOT LIVE BY SWEAT ALONE.
20. IT WAS A MIRICLE WHEN JESUS ROSE FROM THE DEAD AND MANAGED TO GET THE TOMBSTONEOFF THE ENTRANCE.
21. THE PEOPLE WHO FOLLOWED THE LORD WERE CALLED THE 12 DECIBELS.
22. THE EPISTELS WERE THE WIVES OF THE APOSTLES.
23. ONE OF THE OPPOSSUMS WAS ST. MATTHEW WHO WAS ALSO A TAXIMAN.
24. ST. PAUL CAVORTED TO CHRISTIANITY, HE PREACHED HOLY ACRIMONY WHICH IS ANOTHER NAME FOR MARRAIGE.
25. CHRISTIANS HAVE ONLY ONE SPOUSE. THIS IS CALLED MONOTONY

TAAP is pleased to announce our Advocacy War on Autism campaign, addressing the critical need for Autistic adult care and housing. There will be more news to follow in the near future. Please see the letter below from our founder

Dear Parents:

In 1998, I started The Autism Autoimmunity Project. I named it Project because I saw The Myelin Project and wanted to pattern it after that wonderful organization. In their Overview section under Strategies (see http://www.myelin.org/scope.htm) they state the following:

"The Myelin Project is managed in a businesslike `no red tape` fashion. Being victims themselves, or relatives of victims of a demyelinating disease, the members of our boards of directors are naturally committed to moving research along at the fastest possible pace.

Last but not least, The Myelin Project is not a foundation in the traditional sense. We are not here to stay, but are working very hard to put ourselves out of business and demolish the project as soon as possible."

This was why I named our organization The Autism Autoimmunity Project (TAAP) because this strategy was the same I wanted to apply to autism. I didn`t start TAAP so that I would have a foundation in the "autism business" that I would pass on to my children and others. I wanted to get the answers NOW so that my children and other children would not inherit this organization.

Unfortunately, there is an organization that is in the "autism business". It is the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Not only is the NIH in the autism business but they are in the cancer business, the diabetes business, asthma business and any other medical disease/disorder business. As an example, take cancer. Back in the early 1970s President Richard Nixon poured money into the NIH to find an answer for cancer. It was a well intentioned idea but unfortunately the money was given to the wrong agency.

The NIH is an agency that depends on taxpayer funds and is not interested in finding answers to any disease/disorder. Their interest is in only getting a steady stream of funding so that their organization is around. They are not interested in finding out why there is an epidemic of autism and why there is an autoimmune connection to children that are born normal and regress into autism. If it concerns a vaccine link they want to protect their benefactors in the pharmaceutical industry. The Robert Wood Johnson representative for the NJ Governor`s Council on Autism said that regarding research, the NIH is the gold standard. At that time I thought to myself what has the NIH done to show they are the gold standard. Have they cured any diseases/disorders with their research? The answer would be NO.

The NIH ignores looking at the autoimmune link to autism with the MMR vaccine found by Vijendra Singh, PhD and Andrew Wakefield, MD. In the 2000 Congressional hearing in Washington, DC, Dr. Vijendra Singh stated that 55% of the families stated autism appeared after the MMR and that 35% of the families said it appeared after the DPT.

Harold Buttram, MD has a web site at

http://www.woodmed.com/Vaccine%20Scene%202004.htm

Dr. Buttram talks about vaccines, autoimmunity and the stealth virus.

Again, when it comes to science the NIH is totally negligent and useless.

Unfortunately, many politicians and those in the radio, TV and print media protect the pharmaceutical companies. One only has to see or hear a commercial on TV or radio or see one in print to know that the media is in the back pockets of pharmaceutical industry. Also, one only has to check a politician`s list of donors to see that the pharmaceutical company owns the politician. With billions of dollars, the pharmaceutical companies can pay off the media and politicians at the expense of the general public. A few years ago, American Home Products had to withdraw the rotavirus vaccine because there were deaths. Recently, there are over 7,000 lawsuits regarding the drug, Vioxx and heart attacks and the company, Merck is under fire regarding poor science. It will be up to the public to hold these companies responsible since the politicians and the media won`t assume their rightful public advocacy roles. Shameful for a country that calls itself "the land of the free, home of the brave." Nothing free or brave about the US media or politicians.

As children get older some will get big and strong like our son, Eric. They will have aggressions like Eric where they will either self-abuse themselves or abuse family members. Our son is now placed in an out-of-state residential school and will be 21 years old in January 2006. I hope many parents and grandparents will join with me as advocates for our children not only for research but to advocate for appropriate and safe housing in our own home states. Join our organization and help us lobby for the research that is desperately needed. If there are any parents interested in lobbying for housing feel free to contact me at highnoon@gti.net and/or Ray@TAAP.info or write me at 45 Iroquois Avenue, Lake Hiawatha, NJ 07034.

Provide your name, email, and address that includes the state you live in. I will add you to our nationwide list as well as put you in contact with other parents in your state that want to lobby for housing.

Thank you and God bless.

Ray Gallup, parent and Founder

The Autism Autoimmunity Project

WASHINGTON - Two more women have died after using the abortion pill RU-486, federal health regulators said Friday, in warning doctors to watch for a rare but deadly infection implicated in earlier deaths.

At least seven U.S. women have died after taking the pill, sold since 2000. The Food and Drug Administration cannot prove the drug was to blame in any of the cases.

In a cluster of four cases in California, the women died from an infection of the bloodstream, or sepsis. Those women did not follow FDA-approved instructions for the pill-triggered abortion, which requires swallowing three tablets of one drug, followed by two of another two days later.

Instead of swallowing the final two tablets, the second course of pills was inserted vaginally in the four women, a so-called “off-label” use of the drug that studies show works and is widely recommended by abortion clinics but does not have federal approval.

The FDA has not confirmed the cause of the latest two deaths. But the symptoms appear to match those seen in the California cases, an FDA spokeswoman said. However, it was not immediately known if the second course of pills had been inserted vaginally in the two women, she added. The spokeswoman declined to be identified, saying she could not speak publicly about the issue.

RU-486 is also called Mifeprex or mifepristone. It is sold by Danco Laboratories and is approved to terminate pregnancy up to 49 days after the beginning of the last menstrual cycle. It blocks a hormone required to sustain a pregnancy. When followed two days later by another medicine, misoprostol, to induce contractions, the pregnancy is terminated.

The FDA previously has said the abortion pill remains safe enough to stay on the market. The rate of sepsis is about 1 in 100,000 uses, comparable to infection risks with surgical abortions and childbirth.

The other U.S. death associated with Mifeprex was a case of a ruptured ectopic, or tubal, pregnancy in October 2001. The drug is not to be used by women with suspected or confirmed ectopic pregnancies, a life-threatening condition in which the fertilized egg has implanted outside the uterus.

In the California cases, all four women tested positive for Clostridium sordellii, a common but rarely fatal bacterium. Neither of the two latest deaths was in California. Further details were not immediately available.

Federal health officials plan a May 11 workshop to discuss emerging cases of disease involving the germ, which also have included infections in patients who have received skin grafts.

A message seeking comment left with a Danco Laboratories spokeswoman was not immediately returned.

An absurd story that I read in our local paper. AR

DUH! Man accused of offering coke to uniformed cop sitting in his police car

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

By Henry Pierson Curtis

Orlando Sentinel

February 3, 2006, 2:11 PM EST

ORLANDO -- It wasn`t Halloween, so what was Michael Garibay thinking early today?

The Orlando man is accused of offering to sell crack cocaine to a uniform Orange County deputy sitting in a marked patrol car.

Garibay, 34, walked up to Deputy Ed Johnson at a Mobil gas station on Old Winter Garden Road and asked him if he was straight, according to arrest records.

"Do you know what that means," Garibay asked when the deputy responded that he is straight. "No. It means do you want to buy some cocaine."

Thinking the tall, 340-pound man was joking, Johnson said, yes, he wanted to buy some dope. That`s when Garibay pulled out a plastic bag containing "several pieces of flat white rocks substances" and asked for cash, records show.

The deputy took the baggie and arrested Garibay after the contents tested positive for cocaine, records show.

Garibay remained held in the Orange County Jail in lieu of $7,500 bail on charges of possession of cocaine with intent to distribute, possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of marijuana with intent to distribute.

Here are a list of my upcoming talks and seminars. Please note that these may change.

March 25 - 26, 2006 San Fran., Ca. Chiropractic Care for the Family - I.C.P.A.

April 1 - 2, 2006 Atlanta, Ga. Chiropractic Care for the Family - I.C.P.A.

April 8 - 9, 2006 Montreal, Canada Chiropractic Care for the Family - I.C.P.A.

This newsletter does not replace pure, principled chiropractic care!!