We hope the widely circulated press releases on Canine Flu are exaggerated. Even if they are mostly marketing hype, which we will explain in a moment, the danger is not to be disregarded.  If in fact, your dog became one of the “1 to 2%” mortality statistics, it would be only too real and horribly tragic. 

Background: Most of you reading this will not recall the sudden onset of parvo virus back in the eighties; the panic and the rush to manufacture a canine derivative vaccine.  The first vaccine used was, if I remember correctly, modified feline distemper.  I documented widespread cases of sterility in stud dogs and infertility or prolonged whelping in proven bitches.  Other side effects were reported but the most common appeared temporary because by the second year and the release of canine parvo vaccine, reports subsided.  I can’t help this caveat; prior to the onslaught of “vaccines” following the seventies switch to prepared foods instead of table scraps, very few breeders ever experienced infertility problems.

 

Many dogs died from parvo virus.  Rotties and other breeds said to be susceptible to rapid dehydration from the extreme diarrhea were hardest hit.  There were cynical questions raised about the ridiculous press story that the “newly mutated” virus had “erupted at the Collie Nationals.”  It made no sense because in little more than a week, parvo cases were confirmed in England!  Even if someone had managed to smuggle a dog into the U.K., one that had been at the Collie Specialty, it would have taken time for it to spread.  Notably, within a month news came in of more “outbreaks” in other countries, some of which also had rigid quarantine and import regulations.

 

Dr. Erbeck, a fellow columnist in The Dog (the first newspaper) speculated that parvo erupted not at a dog show but in a laboratory.  I quickly called my colleague and began an education in pharmacological strategies. 

 

For the rest of this column, suspend your trust in pharma-giants.  Open your mind to the indisputable fact that we are tricked and cajoled into taking harmful, even deadly substances.  What I’m saying would be hard to believe were it not for Vioxx and several other dangerous products taken off the market in 2005.  Imagine that!  Bad Medicine history was made in less than a year.  Even so, criminal and moral abuses continue unabated because health care is not only the most powerful industry in the western world, it the biggest advertiser in broadcast media.  We are bombarded by clever commercials promising everything from sexual success to mental clarity and no more dry eyes.  Solving the last two “conditions” does not necessarily give us the ability to see through cures for diseases not yet invented! 

 

Were it not for the internet, the truth would still be hidden from the masses.  In this year’s downplayed cases, some drug companies chose not to fight the overwhelming evidence as did the tobacco companies who spent hundreds of millions of dollars refuting the irrefutable.  Gag orders on quietly settled claims did the tobacco gangsters no good because they couldn’t stop the class action class action suits.

 

By the way, tobacco has a thousand-year history of safe use before the addictive chemicals were added by the industry.  Such chemical addiction is but a blip on the radar screen compared to the (prescription) drugs peddled by uncaring or ignorant doctors.  Yes, this writer has been threatened.  I have long been gagged by the truth but I can’t be muzzled.  I am not a lawyer but I think illegal drugs are non-regulated, therefore non-taxable, addictive substances. 

 

You’ve heard about the war on drugs.  To protect ourselves and our pets, we must recognize the real drug war!  For almost every prescription drug, there’s a safer, natural, and infinitely less expensive alternative.  Knowledge of such alternatives is rigorously suppressed.  It was a close battle this June to stave off international laws that would have prevented us from buying OTC vitamins like “C”, “E”, and B-complex.  Whatever your political position, say thank you to Senator Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, who has steadfastly protected our rights to vitamins and safe supplements.

 

Do your own research.  Beware seeded information on pharma-sites masquerading as health-related information sites.  Be diligent and cautious because there are thousands of websites pandering to our fear of illness, a fear largely created by the medical industry and television ads.  Cross-reference what you believe to be true and if you can’t document the science through unrelated sources, forget it.

 

Know that Cancer treatment is the most clouded and protected arena in medicine.  In most states a medical doctor can lose his license if he recommends any treatment for cancer other than “slash, burn, and poison” meaning surgery, radiation, and chemo.  A California cardiologist's license was revoked after his patient, newly diagnosed with cancer, asked where she might find alternative treatments and he kindly suggested some sources explore.

 

If you know someone who is fighting the dreaded proliferation of abnormal cells (that’s what cancer is) you should do careful research, starting with the knowledge that the average cost to treat a cancer patient is well over a half million dollars.  It can be much more.  There's a lot at stake in that "customer."

 

Health care is big business whether it is your pet or your family.  Actually, the world of veterinary medicine is a murky mess because the animals can’t talk and the greedy get by with murder.  There is no oversight.  In fact, in many states there are laws to protect the incompetent veterinarian. 

 

Take everything with a grain of non-chemicalized sea salt.  Sprinkle it over the Truth and share with others. 

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reprint permission   
SHOWSIGHT MAGAZINE November 2005

 

Copyright © 2005 Barbara J. Andrews.  Reprint Rights are granted only as follows: no quotes or portions thereof may be stored or reprinted in any form, electronic or otherwise, without credit to the author and if used online or in lists, a link to www.TheDogPlace.org  must be provided.  If used in print media, author credit and source must be included.  Barbara J. Andrews contact@thedogplace.org