Mad Cow Disease: There are other things to worry about

Some food for thought about health issue and real versus perceived risks -

I've been reading a lot about the risks of mad cow disease lately, and it seems like it is more of a media event that a true risk. How many people have actually died from mad cow disease compared to the number of people who have died from smoking? Oddly, there are bans on beef imports from countries where mad cow disease has been found, yet have these same countries banned the importation of cigarettes?

The media distorts the real risks of many condition by over publicizing relatively rare events and under publicizing common event that are so common they are not newsworthy.

Medical Errors Can Be Deadly

The Food and Drug Administration today proposed a new format for prescription drug labeling that will help reduce medical errors, which according to the National Academy of Sciences may be responsible for as many as 98,000 U.S. deaths annually.

98,000 deaths a year from medical errors - that statistic sure makes a statement. I think it pays to be cautious whenever one receives medical care. I've gotten vastly different opinions just by seeing differnt doctors for the same medical condition.

Voltaire Quote on Medicine

Another cute quote I came across recently:

Doctors are men who prescribe medicines of which they know little to cure diseases of which they know less, in human beings of which they know nothing.
Voltaire

Okay, so it's not a totally fair quote. There are a lot of great doctors out there. I'm happy with the doctors we have right now. But we had to go through a lot of old school doctors like the ones described above before we found a few good ones. Everyday I get letters to my CTDS site from people who go to doctor after doctor getting prescriptions that seem to cause more problems then they cure.

Welcome to My Alternative Health Blog

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Please visit my main web site at The Connective Tissue Disorder Site

Here are some of my favorite quotes about health -

When diet is wrong medicine is of no use.
When diet is correct medicine is of no need.
Ancient Ayurvedic Proverb

He that takes medicine and neglects diet, wastes the skill of the physician.
Chinese Proverb

Those who do not find time for exercise will have to find time for illness.
Earl of Derby

The treatment is really a cooperative of a trinity--the patient, the doctor and the inner doctor.
Ralph Bircher

We chat together; he gives me prescriptions; I never follow them so I get well. - Molière

Medicine is a collection of uncertain prescriptions, the results of which taken collectively, are more fatal than useful to mankind. Water, air and cleanliness are the chief articles in my pharmacopeia. - Napoleon Bonaparte