TV News LIES

The FDA has said that the controversial drug Avastin should be phased out as a treatment for metastatic breast cancer. Recent studies show that its benefits are outweighed by dangerous side effects.

The announcement does not affect Avastin's status as a drug that can be prescribed for lung cancer, kidney cancer, colorectal cancer and brain cancer.

"Along with those disappointing findings, serious side effects became apparent in patients taking Avastin, including high blood pressure, internal bleeding, perforated internal organs, heart failure and heart attacks, and in some cases, even swelling of the brain."

There's good news on the fluoride front in New York City this week, but your help is needed there (and also in San Diego). Councilor Peter Vallone is introducing a bill to the New York City Council that would end fluoridation in NYC. We need help from all our New York City readers to support this effort to protect the safety of the NYC water supply and remove this toxic chemical from the tap water there.

Fluoride is a poison

The doctor who linked childhood autism to a vaccine and has been branded a fraud by the British Medical Journal (BMJ) said he was the victim of a smear campaign by drug manufacturers.

Andrew Wakefield was barred from medical practice last year after the General Medical Council in London found him guilty of "unethical" research that sparked unfounded fears about the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine.

A second person denied transplant coverage by Arizona under a state budget cut has died, with this death "most likely" resulting from the coverage reduction, a hospital spokeswoman said Wednesday.

University Medical Center spokeswoman Jo Marie Gellerman said the patient died Dec. 28 at another medical facility after earlier being removed from UMC's list for a liver transplant needed because of hepatitis C.

The Obama administration, reversing course, will revise a Medicare regulation to delete references to end-of-life planning as part of the annual physical examinations covered under the new health care law, administration officials said Tuesday.

The move is an abrupt shift, coming just days after the new policy took effect on Jan. 1. Many doctors and providers of hospice care had praised the regulation, which listed “advance care planning” as one of the services that could be offered in the “annual wellness visit” for Medicare beneficiaries.

Doctors are implanting high-tech heart devices in thousands of people who probably do not need them, a new study finds. The procedures cost more than $35,000, involve surgery and anesthesia, and may unnecessarily harm some patients.

The devices, called defibrillators, fire an electrical shock to jolt the heart back into a normal rhythm if it starts to beat in a disordered way that can cause sudden death. In people who truly need them, for conditions that can fatally disrupt heart rhythm, defibrillators can be life-saving.