After our article on flu vaccine death statistics, Elizabeth wrote:

“The government also doesn’t bother to keep track of how many people dying from the flu were vaccinated. I don’t think this is an oversight. They don’t want us to know.”

Right. Influenza vaccination has no significant effect on death rates among the elderly, according to a study conducted by researchers from the University of Alberta, Canada. As Mike Adams noted recently:

“Previous studies have concluded that getting a flu shot reduces an elderly person’s risk of dying from any cause by 50 percent, a claim that other scientists have challenged as unlikely. ‘Over the last two decades in the United Sates, even while [flu] vaccination rates among the elderly have increased from 15 to 65 percent, there has been no commensurate decrease in hospital admissions or all-cause mortality,’ researcher Dean T. Eurich said. ‘Further, only about 10 percent of winter-time deaths in the United States are attributable to influenza, thus to suggest that the vaccine can reduce 50 percent of deaths from all causes is implausible in our opinion.’ ”

On our story about the heart researchers feeding elderly heart patients margarine with some omega-3 fat added, Jim writes:

“You mentioned that older people have trouble converting ALA (the kind of omega-3 fat found in flax or other vegetable oils) into the DHA and EPA that our body can actually use. The conversion is even harder if you are diabetic and have raised insulin levels and we can guess how many of the elderly heart patients fell into that category.”

Thanks for pointing this out. An additional reason the study was so crazy.

Scott reports that the National MS Society responded to our August 24 story and said:

“We are not funding Adeona Pharmaceuticals, the manufacturer of Trimesta, as seems to be implied.”

The National MS Society is funding research to win approval for the use of Trimesta (owned by Adeona Pharmaceuticals) to treat multiple sclerosis. When the National MS Society pays for testing procedures, they are incurring an expense that otherwise would have been borne by the pharmaceutical company. Whether the Society is paying the drug company directly is not the important issue. Note that if someone pays another’s debt, it’s still gross income to the debtor as far as the IRS is concerned.

Barbs suggests how to have a greater impact on the Food Safety Accountability Act and other bills:

“I have written my own letter to Sen. Scott Brown—as his response regarding this bill, just a couple of days ago, was not favorable. Basically, he kept telling me how important food safety was, and ignored my issues. So, I’ve sent him a response—through his site.”

We think this is an excellent idea. Senators and members of the House tend to pay close attention to their own websites.