Dear Friends, www.majesticearth-minerals.com

In 2003 the two pharmaceutical companies, Merck and Pfizer, spent about $300 million, collectively, advertising their two anti-arthritis drugs, Vioxx and Celebrex. We've all seen the ads that money bought: TV images of smiling, limber seniors jumping around enjoying the "active" life. Despite the rogues gallery of side effects mentioned during the ads closing seconds (upper-respiratory infections, diarrhea, nausea, high blood pressure, etc.), the ads were enormously successful. Total sales for the two products in the United States alone for the year 2003, came to $4.5 billion. Since its approval date in 1999 nearly 91 million prescriptions have been written for Vioxx. However, as early as late 1999 the National Academy of Science warned that heart attack, stroke and blood clotting disorders could result from using Cox 2 inhibitors (Vioxx's primary ingredient) for relief of arthritis pain. One internal email dated as early as 1996 during development, reveals an awareness at Merck of the potential hazards. Over time evidence mounted and by 2004 the danger of heart attack and stroke became so obvious, especially for higher intake levels and long term use, the manufacturer decided to remove all Vioxx from its shelf.

Within the last two weeks Federal health officials conceded that the same sort of dangers associated with Vioxx apply, too, to Celebrex. Three days after the Celebrex warning, a warning was issued concerning what was always considered a relatively benign, over the counter product, Alieve. We all recall the HRT scandal that hit in 2003 revealing the dangers to women taking such drugs as Premarin and Provera. What does all this teach us?

Maybe, and it is not all that novel an assertion, certainly Dr. Wallach has been making this point for the last 35 years, maybe the giant pharmaceutical companies really DON'T have the public's best interest at heart. It is a very cynical thought, admittedly, but if their profits are in the billions what is a few hundred million in lawsuit settlements? They can look at statistics showing that tens of thousands of users are sent to an early grave and still laugh all the way to the bank!

Not all drugs are terrible. Some can save your life. But why use a drug if you don't have to? Is it not better to work up from less invasive to more invasive; from less expensive to more expensive; from safe (no negative side effects) to more dangerous; from alternatives designed to go to cause, to drugs designed to manage symptoms? Dr. Wallach and thousands of his colleagues in the wellness field believe so.

Take the problem that Vioxx was designed to address, for example: arthritic inflammation. The scientists who developed Vioxx focused on one small part of the picture. With Vioxx they can chemically inhibit production of an enzyme (cyclooxygenase) the body depends on to synthesize prostoglandins from Omega 3 and Omega 6 fatty acids. But the body needs prostaglandins. Prostaglandins are very unique and complex short-lived, hormone-like chemicals that regulate cellular activities on a moment-to-moment basis. Depending on what type of prostaglandin it is, one minute they might serve to inflame tissue and the next they might serve to decrease inflammation; one minute they might serve to increase pain and decrease oxygen flow cause blood clots and the next minute they might do the opposite. Which way the body goes depends on what else is happening, depends on the cause. For example, if the cartilage in a joint has worn away over the years due to stress and inadequate intake of minerals and other nutrients and bones are beginning to grind away against each other, then, naturally, the body is going to respond with some pain and inflammation. The pain is to tell the user to quit using that joint. And the inflammation is to create an emergency, protective cushioning and to stage-manage the influx of oxygen and nutrients and the outflow of toxins.

The most important thing to understand about how the body works is that it always works in balance. Drug developers go wrong time and time again whenever they ignore this reality. The Cox �1 enzyme produces thromboxane A2, which promotes blood vessel constriction and "stickiness" in blood cells called platelets. Cox-1 is protective of the linings of the stomach. The COX-2 enzyme, on the other hand, works to synthesize prostacyclin from essential fatty acids. Prostacyclin helps prevent platelets from clumping and promotes blood vessel dilation and inflammation and in high concentrations can drill holes through weak stomach linings. The makers of Vioxx, a Cox-2 inhibitor wanted a painkiller that arrested inflammation and pain without doing damage to the stomach (16,000 / year die from this each year in the US). But Cox-1 and Cox-2 and the type of prostaglandin each, respectively, synthesizes, are each other's natural antagonists: one keeps the other in balance. By targeting Cox-2, exclusively, Cox-1 is freed up to do its "work" unchecked: thus the danger of clotting, heart attack and stroke.

Scientists at Merck knew about this, the National Academy of Science knew about this, many in the alternative medicine / wellness community were well aware of this as early as 1999. But when there is so much money on the line (the market for all analgesics is $10 billion / year), when, for example, nearly a million dollars a day are spent year after year on an unprecedented advertising blitz targeting both physicians and consumers, when there is a revolving door linking employees of the FDA, Drug Companies and University research facilities, the voice of reasoned dissent is lost in the fray. Even the revelation made on the ABC News, Peter Jennings Special, "Pills, Profit and the Public Health" (05-29-02) that the new breed of pain killers have never been proven to be any more effective at relieving pain than the old standards (simple aspirin, Tylinol, Advil, Motrin, etc.), hardly caused a blip in sales. Read the full text of the ABC News report at

http://www.spancoalition.org/NewNews/MainNews/05.29a.02M.htm

For a shorter excerpt link here:

www.drwallachsminerals.com/Jennings.htm

Perhaps the whole specter of taxpayers heavily funding pharmaceutical research (through the NIH) and then being ripped off with expensive and dangerous drugs is so overwhelmingly depressing that the public just tunes out.

Another reason for arthritic inflammation, particularly rheumatoid arthritis, arises from the auto-immune component present. Nearly 90% of rheumatoid arthritis sufferers have a gene that predisposes them to react to certain antigen triggers (food, bacteria, virus). The immune system starts attacking its own tissue. T-cells, for example, are programmed to attack the body. This initiates a cascade of inflammatory substances. Rather than targeting those inflammatory substances as the Vioxx product does, a much greater, sustained benefit can come from going to cause. From the standpoint of nutrition we know from work reported on as far back as 1998 that certain, specific groupings of fatty acid esters appear to reprogram immune cells which have been given a message to destroy healthy cartilage tissue (Sands, L. Arthritis Defeated at Last. Acquarius Holdings, Ltd. 1998). Other nutritional strategies can be employed to build back lost bone and cartilage: for example, a combination of all the "bone" minerals (calcium, magnesium, zinc, manganese, boron, etc.) along with glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate. As the initial irritation or "cause" of compromised bone and cartilage is removed (rebuilt), the "effect" of pain and inflammation automatically, logically goes away. Sugar and starch avoidance / reduction for most people will lower insulin levels. Elevated insulin levels are one of the most important reasons why inflammatory prostaglandins are produced. That is why stopping sugar and sweets are so essential to controlling arthritis pain and other types of chronic degenerative illness. Besides reducing carbohydrate intake another thing that can be done is increase Omega 3 fatty acid intake. Omega 3 fats are precursors to mediators of inflammation. As a population the ratio between our Omega 3 intake and Omega 6 intake is way off. Most of us are deficient in Omega 3. The more raw material available from which anti-inflammatory prostaglandins are produced (Omega 3) the more we can keep pain and inflammation under control, naturally. A Cox 2 inhibitor forces a result by blocking the body's ability to produce inflammation-causing prostaglandins (made from Omega 6 primarily) but in so doing it throws the body out of balance creating a dangerous side effect (heart attack, stroke). Lowering insulin levels through dietary changes and increasing Omega 3 intake through supplementation, on the other hand, gives the body both the means and the gentle encouragement it needs to create fewer inflammatory prostaglandins and more anti-inflammatory prostaglandins. In this way pain is reduced or eliminated without creating a crisis of imbalance. With another year just ahead we all notice time flying by. I understand that now it is every seven seconds that a person turns 50 in America. As our young and resilient bodies are replaced by a more worn and fragile edition, we ask all of our friends and loved ones to take pause before they ever again decide to "Ask (their) doctor for Vioxx." Please, consider the alternatives. Dr. Wallach's Ultimate EFA Plus provides a rich helping of Omega 3 and DHA to help achieve proper Omega 3 / Omega 6 ratios. Dr. Wallach's CM Plus is a unique product containing just the grouping of fatty acid esters thought to be able to re-program immune cells. Also, CM Plus and CM Plus Cream very effective at reducing or eliminating arthritic pain. Extensive toxicity studies have been run on the CM Plus. Zero bad side effects were found. Generation after generation of lab mice were fed CM Plus at 800 times the normal intake. Nothing happened (except the female mice urinated more for some reason!). Unlike prescription or over the counter pain relievers CM Plus is perfectly safe. It is not a drug, a chemical, synthesized in a laboratory somewhere. It is just a collection of specific fatty acid esters, common nutrients, that are present in many of the foods we eat everyday. We've isolated them and formulated them into a capsule. But we can't patent them because they occur, naturally, in nature. Studies done on the prime constituents of the CM Plus are very encouraging. One double-blind, clinical trial demonstrated an amazing 70% return in flexibility, limberness and mobility over the placebo group (call 800-290-6124 if you want this mailed to you)! And what about Dr. Wallach's very own Pig Pack Plus? It not only provides the 90 nutrients essential to human health and in a form the body can easily recognize and use, it also contains generous helpings of the specific groups of nutrients the body relies upon to build back and re-architecture bones and cartilage. Doesn't it make more sense to eliminate the cause of arthritic pain (worn joints) than trying to manage the symptom (the pain and swelling itself)? Again, we are just small potatoes. We can't commission a 10 year longitudinal study to prove, beyond a shadow of a doubt that Dr. Wallach's Pig Pack Plus "cures arthritis." We don't claim that it does. What we do know is what we hear in the reports we get back from users: reports of bone density tests: reports of no more pain. And what we do know is that it is perfectly safe. No one has ever been damaged using Dr. Wallach's Pig Pack Plus. Before you turn yourself into another guinea pig for the drug companies, you owe it to yourself to start smart and low tech and start safe.

Besides reflecting on how quickly the years pass by, this time of holiday season our thoughts turn, too, to remembering the many blessings that have shined down upon us. High on the list of blessings is your loyalty, the loyalty of all our wonderful customers. We trust we have served you well and hope to continue to serve you well in the years to come. You people are the best! How many of you saw the Frontline presentation, recently, entitled, "Dangerous Prescription?" How many of you read the book from the Harvard educated MD, Jerry Avorn, entitled, "Powerful Medicines?" What about all the amazing information coming out on the benefit of Omega 3 essential fatty acids? We can all be proud of the legal battles Youngevity has helped wage against the FDA aimed at giving the public better health choices. The point is, you are all awake, alert, independent and smart enough to question conventional wisdom regarding personal health. You guys are the new custodians of the revolutionary, anti-establishment, pioneer spirit that made our country great. You care, deeply, about your life and health, the life and health of your loved ones and you won't let anyone take it away from you! Don and I salute you for this. We are proud and honored to be associated with such a group!

Health and Happiness to all of You and Prosperity in the New Year,

Sincerely,
Stu Hunt
Don Ellis