Michigan voters legalized medical marijuana last year. Rules for the program went into effect Saturday. In Los Angeles the law remains an obstacle but a federal judge is unhappy with the law. In New York City, Mayor Michael Bloomberg is opposed but three Democratic candidates for district attorney have declared in favor of legalization for patients.

Kurt Donsbach, 73, who markets supplements including some for conditions of the prostate, was arrested April 8 during his internet radio show “Let’s Talk Health” on a warrant charging him with 11 felonies including treating patients without a license, misbranding drugs for sale, grand theft, unlawfully dispensing drugs as a cure for cancer and falsely representing a cure for cancer. Bail was set at $1,500,000.

A San Diego news site reports: “District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis said that Kurt Walter Donsbach, 73, “preyed on vulnerable patients who were looking for medical help.”

Arraigned April 13, Donsbach plead not guilty in San Diego’s downtown Superior Court. Bail was lowered to $250,00.

Received from Halle Tecco, founder of YOGA BEAR, a non profit offering free yoga classes for cancer survivors:

Hello, my name is Halle and I’m the Executive Director of Yoga Bear, a non-profit that provides free yoga to cancer survivors across the US, through 125 partner yoga studios.  Most of our participants are female, and we’re trying to get more men involved! Since prostate cancer is so common for men, we wanted to reach out to your organization.  Could you please let your community know that we offer free passes to yoga studios for survivors interested in trying yoga?
Thank you,

http://www.yogabear.org/
blog.yogabear.org http://blog.yogabear.org

Music “has Charms to sooth a savage Breast,” wrote playwright William Congreve, “To soften Rocks, or bend a knotted Oak.” But can it soothe those mired in the grief, confusion and pain of cancer diagnosis and treatment?

Music therapist Megan Gunnell at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center thinks so. She uses music to help heal cancer patients’ spirits as well as their bodies.

UM Music therapist Megan Gunnell

You can listen to one of her music therapy sessions. You’ll need QuickTime music player . If you don’t already have it installed on your computer, you can download it for Windows or Mac in a free version from Apple.

The Annie Appleseed Project invites you to its conference on “Evidence-based Complementary and Alternative Cancer Therapies for Cancer Advocates” aka CAM for Cancer Advocates.
January 10-11, 2008 in West Palm Beach, FL

A California court has ordered PC Spes manufacturer Dr. Sophie Chen and International Medical Research, Incorporated (doing business as BotanicLab) to pay more than $24 million to consumers who bought PC Spes between 1998 and 2002. PC Spes, a purported herbal supplement targeted at prostate cancer patients, is no longer sold in the USA but reportedly is sold in Europe and the UK from the Netherlands.

The judgment was based on evidence of intent to defraud consumers and to loot company assets to avoid restitution.

“Contrary to the IMR Defendants representations, PC Spes was not all natural, was not all herbal, was not a dietary supplement, and was in fact a very dangerous product,” said Superior Court judge John S. Meyer, who presided over the case August 6-7 in San Diego.

In an exclusive report August 10, psa-rising.com published details of the judgment and a link to the full transcript (in .pdf).

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is advising consumers not to purchase or use “True Man” or “Energy Max” products promoted and sold as dietary supplements throughout the United States. Both products — touted as sexual enhancement products and as treatments for erectile dysfunction (ED) — contain potentially harmful, undeclared ingredients.The products contain substances called analogs that have similar structures to active ingredients in approved prescription drugs.

The undeclared analog ingredients in True Man and Energy Max may interact with nitrates found in some prescription drugs such as nitroglycerin and may lower blood pressure to dangerous levels. Men with diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol or heart disease often take nitrates.

Tomatoes might be nutritious and tasty, say researchers based at the National Cancer Institute and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, but don’t count on them to prevent prostate cancer. Lycopene, an antioxidant predominately found in tomatoes, the researchers report in the May issue of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, does not effectively prevent prostate cancer.

In fact, the researchers noted an association between beta-carotene, an antioxidant related to lycopene, and an increased risk for aggressive prostate cancer. In a preliminary report last year from the same study researchers noted that antioxidant supplements have weak, mixed results for prostate cancer.

No Magic Tomato? Study Breaks Link between Lycopene and Prostate Cancer Prevention … Full story

“Vietnam bestows honor on herbal medicine for prostate cancer”
A Vietnamese medical research organization received the country’s highest honor for producing an herbal drug claimed as a therapy for prostate cancer.

The state-owned Research and Development Center also received the health ministry’s nod to use a catchy phrase on the herbal supplement’s bottles. The center has been allowed to print the legend “a quality product for community health” on Crila bottles.

Crila, for which it received a gold medal Saturday, is claimed to be the result of many years of research abroad by Dr Nguyen Thi Ngoc Tram, head of the center. The product is made from the leaves of a kind of trumpet Lily (Crinum latifolium).

Original report by Vo Khoi. Translated by Hoang Bao. Edited at PSA Rising.
Vietnam Latest News Thanh Hien Daily