8th June, 2010

Dr NICK HODGSON

2010 brings in the dawn of a new decade – remember the start of the last decade? I can remember going and restarting all my computers at about 12.05am on 1st January, 2000 – to check if they were still alive – they were. No aeroplanes dropped out of the skies. The banks didn’t misplace all our money. Everything that contained a microchip didn’t cease to tell the time. But how many millions of dollars were spent on policies, procedures, software and hardware to try and avoid the “millennium bug”?

PICTURE: Konrad Mostert (www.sxc.hu).

In more recent years we have had a threat of a devastating annual bug forced upon us by every form of media, medicine and politics – the annual infectious pandemic hoax: mad cow disease, bird flu and more recently the swine flu. Which animal hosted microbe will we be scare mongered by in 2010?

Using 20-20 hindsight what have been the major outcomes of each pandemic threat?

• Increased sales of “anti-whatever” drugs: In 2009 retro-virals were pushed from obscurity to frontline infectious disease control. So much so that the third world couldn’t medicate the only humans that may have really needed them - the HIV sufferers. In the past the known harm caused by these drugs outweighed the potential efficacy.

• Increased sales of vaccines: The medical lobby has been warning us that too few people are volunteering for their vaccines - but when the fear of a life threatening mega bug is spread - the crowds queue willingly for the touted preventative measure. Twelve months later they confess that it wasn’t as effective as first hoped - but next year’s will be better.

• Decreased need for research and development of new vaccines: With the sense of urgency that is ushered in by the impending global disaster, medicines and policies are rushed into the marketplace bypassing usual research, development and consultation.

• Purchase and stockpiling of medications in proportions unlikely to be ever utilised: Since every man woman and child is going to be infected and potentially killed by the infectious agent, governments are convinced to buy enough stockpile of the miracle cures to dose us all, even if we don’t want it

• Fear propagation" The average person on the street believes what they see and hear on the TV, and they are scared of these superbugs even though they don’t yet exist. Normal healthy people who would not consider taking retroviral or flu vaccines line up in their millions to get the pills and needles, regardless of whether their virus has been differentially diagnosed or not.

• Government protection from any liability resulting from harm, disability and death resulting from the mass medication in the interest of public health: It’s a war and there will be casualties, but the “few” who are permanently disabled and even killed by the cure become martyrs for the greater good.

• Monopolising of the mass media’s attention: Did you see a single feature on chiropractic’s role in warding off the last real flu pandemic during all the hoo-haa?  Have you been given any genuine self-help strategies other than to cover your face when you cough and to wash your hands?

I am a registered health care professional and as part of my government regulated registration I have strict guidelines placed over me in regards to how I can market and advertise my business - for example, we are bound to always consider how our advertisements will be received by members of the public and be mindful that some consumers may have particular vulnerabilities in relation to the advertising of, and the provision of our services.

One of the features of advertising that is regarded to be unacceptable is to contain language that could cause fear or distress. Interesting isn’t it that the parties who spread the information about these super-bugs depend on its ability to instil fear, panic and excessive dependence on the proposed medical answer - and that this misinformation is endorsed, funded and promoted by the same government that forbids the same behaviour by natural health practitioners like myself?

There are recurring trends in the methodology utilised to maximise the emotional response to the media campaign that leads to the huge sales success for the purveyors of the “wonder drugs” which can include:

• Use of the words epidemic and pandemic as soon as possible and as much as possible even when the number of cases barely even qualifies as an outbreak.

• Grossly overstate the severity and prognosis of the disease.

• Make sure that the average person is convinced that there is a good chance that they will die if they contract the infection.

• Dramatically overstate the effectiveness of the drug therapies and completely deny the possibility of any side effects or adverse events from the indiscriminate use of ever stronger and multi-drug cocktails.

• Make sure that the man on the corner knows the “best” drugs for the illness so that they will request these drugs during their consultation with their medical practitioner.

• Provide the general public with a convincing but vague list of presenting signs and symptoms (which could be any other infectious disease) so that they rush off to their GP as soon as possible demanding drugs and shots.

• Suppress the facts that most of the deaths and severe outcomes occur in already severely immune-suppressed individuals.

• Suggest that the virus is highly likely to mutate into a Hollywood proportions killer-bug at any moment.

• Convince the medical profession that to properly differentially diagnose the infection may lead to life threatening delays in medical intervention.

• Position your proposed solution as being the only option, even when you don’t have the product developed yet, and convince the consumer that the normal research and development process needs to be bypassed to get the product on the shelf – generate consumer demand!

• Use the opportunity to clear the shelves of drugs normally used for other conditions, for treatment the new condition even though it hasn’t been tested for that use.

• Successfully lobby the governments to purchase and stockpile vast amounts of the product just in case all of the false prophesies do come true - wow - wish I could come up with a product that few people actually need, that is then pre-purchased for every man woman and child on the planet, and has no quality assurance and outcome measures attached to it when it is used, and no care or responsibility for any negative outcomes that result.

So what will it be this year - maybe there is still more mileage and drug sales to be achieved from pigs? Could be time for an oceanic theme - perhaps some contagious agent resulting from the unstoppable oil spillage will produce some evolutionary mutating force? Maybe instead of cows it should be bull or one of the laughing animals?

The information contained in this article is of a general nature only. For advice on your specific situation, please consult your medical professional.

Dr Nick Hodgson is a chiropractor working in Victoria. Recognised by both the Chiropractors Association of Australia (Vic) for his service to the chiropractic profession, Dr Hodgson has been responsible for introducing the torque release technique (www.torquerelease.com.au), auriculotherapy and addictionology training to the Australian chiropractic profession. Nick is a Fellow of the Holder Research Institute (F.H.R.I.), has completed five of the ten modules of the Certified Addictionologist (CAd) program, and is the Australasian provider of Torque Release training. He is a member of the Chiropractors’ Association of Australia (CAA) and the World Chiropractic Alliance (WCA), and sits on the WCA’s International Board of Governors. Visit Nick online at www.superhealthy.com.au.

© Dr Nick Hodgson 2010.

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