From: LEF Email List1 [mailto:nsantini@directnet1.net]
Sent: Friday, March 10, 2000 1:33 PM
Subject: Life Extension Update 3-10-00
LEF Email List1 - http://www.lef.org
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The Life Extension Foundation has a 20 year history of introducing life
saving medical discoveries and funding scientific research.
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In This Issue 3-9-00: Articles---FDA's TEN YEAR PLAN, ARE WE TO BECOME
SERFS OF THE DRUG MONOPOLY?; What's Hot---GOVERNMENT STOPS BLOOD PRESSURE
DRUG TRIAL, ATRIAL FIBRILLATION COMPLICATES HEART ATTACK RECOVERY; Product
of the Week---FAST BLAST; LEF Events---THE FOURTH ALCOR CONFERENCE ON LIFE
EXTENSION TECHNOLOGIES.
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Articles
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THE DURK PEARSON & SANDY SHAW LIFE EXTENSION NEWS
FDA UPDATE!!---FDA's Ten Year Plan
The FDA's newly announced Ten Year Plan for Dietary Supplement Strategy is
a real laugh. (Those who want to read the whole thing can download it at
http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/) The FDA states, as the goal of its Ten Year
Plan that, by the year 2010, the FDA will have established a
"science-based regulatory program that fully implements the Dietary
Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 (DSHEA)." So it only takes
them (if they meet their "goal") sixteen years to implement the DSHEA.
Many of the items listed in the Ten Year Plan as subgoals, such as
defining the difference between a dietary supplement and a drug and
defining when a disease claim for a dietary supplement becomes a drug
claim, are issues that have already been decided in the relevant
Congressional statute (DSHEA) that determines the extent of FDA authority
over dietary supplements. The classes of substances that qualify as
dietary supplements are explicitly given in the DSHEA. The DSHEA also
makes it clear that a truthful statement of a substance-disease
relationship about a dietary supplement is not be regulated as a drug
claim.
http://www.lef.org/dsnews/dsfeb00.html
ARE WE TO BECOME SERFS OF THE DRUG MONOPOLY? By William Faloon
While politicians are trying to get Medicare (meaning the taxpayer) to
shoulder part of this burden, The Life Extension Foundation has shown that
inflated drug prices are a result of a protected monopoly the FDA grants
to the pharmaceutical giants. As anyone familiar with free markets knows,
lack of competition means the consumer pays exorbitant prices for lower
quality products. In the case of prescription drugs, Americans pay the
highest prices in the world and are often the last the gain access to
therapies that were long ago approved in other countries.
Up until now, HMOs and insurance companies have been subsidizing consumer
prescription drug purchases through nominal "co-pay" arrangements. That
price protection is rapidly vanishing, as most HMOs have lost money over
the last three years and are raising premiums and co-pays on prescription
drugs to cut the financial hemorrhage. In some cases, HMOs are going out
of business because their premium base does not cover the skyrocketing
costs of prescription drugs.
http://lef.org/magazine/mag2000/feb00-awsi.html
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What's Hot
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GOVERNMENT STOPS BLOOD PRESSURE DRUG TRIAL
After results showed the blood pressure drug Cardura prevented far fewer
heart complications than a cheaper, more conventional water pill, the
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) prematurely halted that
portion of a large cardiovascular drug study and urged patients taking the
medication to consult their doctors. "Cardura was less effective at
lowering blood pressure and at preventing cardiovascular complications,
particularly heart failure," said study steering committee chairman Dr.
Curt Furberg of Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center. "It is also
ten times more expensive than the diuretic."
http://lef.org/whatshot/index.html#gsbp
ATRIAL FIBRILLATION COMPLICATES HEART ATTACK RECOVERY
Approximately two million Americans suffer from atrial fibrillation, an
irregular heart quivering more common in older adults. Researchers at
Georgetown University Medical Center in Washington, D.C., found 22 percent
of elderly heart attack patients experienced atrial fibrillation prior to
or just after suffering a heart attack. Patients with both conditions
experienced more disability and death than people who suffered a heart
attack but no atrial fibrillation. "We didn't think atrial fibrillation
would be as common as we found it to be," said senior author Dr. Allen J.
Solomon. "When elderly heart attack patients have atrial fibrillation,
they are at increased risk for having a stroke, congestive heart failure
or a second heart attack. Their hospital stay is also longer."
http://lef.org/whatshot/index.html#afch
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Protocols
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GLAUCOMA
To understand glaucoma, it is necessary to comprehend the responsibilities
of the various structures of the eye and their placement. Recall that the
iris is the colored portion of the eye that contains smooth muscle and
regulates the amount of light entering the eye. The pupil is the opening
in the iris, through which light passes to the lens and the retina. The
cornea is the part of the eye that produces the greatest amount of
convergence of light and comprises 1/6th of the outermost tunic, referred
to as the fibrous tunic of the eye bulb. The retina or nervous tunic is
the innermost tunic of the eye. The optic nerve passes through the retina
at a point called the blind spot. This is an apt description, for the
blind spot contains neither rods, photoreceptors that respond to dim
light, or cones, photoreceptors that respond to bright light and allow
color vision. Nerve impulses initiated by the rods and cones are passed to
the bipolar cells, which in turn pass them to the ganglionic cells. The
fibers of these cells pass in front of the retina forming the optic nerve,
which carries the nerve impulses to the brain
Grape seed-skin extract, a proanthocyanidin, is considered a powerful
antioxidant, defending the collagen matrix against free radial attack and
guarding it against enzymatic breakdown, through the enhanced delivery of
oxygen and blood to the eye. When normal mechanisms designed to deliver
oxygen fail, a variety of ocular disorders can develop.
http://www.lef.org/protocols/prtcl-053.shtml
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Product of the Week
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FAST BLAST
Fast Blast is a glucose-sucrose, caffeine, L-phenylalanine (an essential
nutrient amino acid) and other essential nutrient cofactors high
performance Designer Food. Take Fast Blast for a fast start to a long
hard-driving day of work or play. Blast off in the morning with this
natural nutrient, high performance Designer Food. Designed and used by
Durk Pearson and Sandy Shaw.
http://lef.org/newshop/category/category10000.shtml
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LEF Events
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THE FOURTH ALCOR CONFERENCE ON LIFE EXTENSION TECHNOLOGIES
The world is changing rapidly. Only a few years ago, most people
considered cloning of mammals to be no more than science fiction.
Repeated successes in this area have shown to be a reality today. More
importantly, medical technologies like cloning and the use of embryonic
stem cells to regenerate tissues, promise to make it possible to reverse
all the major degenerative diseases within our own lifetimes. Even aging
itself is under heavy attack by today's biological and medical
technologies.
The Fourth Alcor Conference of Life Extension Technologies is a meeting of
scientists and individuals who are working toward the expansion of human
health and longevity. This conference will cover topics relevant to these
pursuits.
June 17 - 18 2000 Asilomar Conference Center Monterey Peninsula Northern
California www.alcor.org Alcor Life Extension Foundation 7895 East Acoma
Dr suite 110 Scottsdale AZ 85260 480 905 1906 voice, 480 922 9027 fax
http://lef.org/event.html#alcor
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Please visit our web site: www.lef.org
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Sincerely,
Nicki Santini
E-mail Update Editor
nicki@lef.org
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See You Next Week!
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