Just when European drug companies have made herbal remedies and potent vitamins almost impossible (or illegal) to buy in Europe, and U.S. drug companies are doing their best to catch up, there’s this news.

According to recent medical studies, black cohosh, a cheap, common herb that some women take to prevent unpleasant symptoms of menopause, actually slows the growth of breast cancer. I hope more people read this story and draw the obvious conclusion: We ought to be able to take whatever herbs and nutritional supplements we choose. Sometimes the old ways are the best.

We must not let corporations deprive us of the right to natural remedies that have stood the test of time as safe and effective treatments for which no prescription is necessary. Of course, healthy people don’t buy as many drugs. So natural remedies and good nutrition will never be popular with ruthless capitalists in a society dominated by corporate interests.

Hmmm. Maybe you should plant an herb garden while you still can. Read the following article, and then decide.

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Hypnosis has been a controversial topic in many circles since the 18th century. What it is and how it works have been misunderstood and sometimes hotly debated for centuries. Hypnotists are often portrayed on movies and TV as mind-control masters who can compel their subjects to do bizarre or horrible things against their own will.

In the 20th century, though, hypnosis gradually came into its own as a technique for psychotherapists to help patients recall traumatic incidents that were continuing to affect their lives. Often, recalling the origin of a mental problem helped the patient deal with the issues involved.

Physicians and dentists learned that hypnosis could be used to ease pain and even allow patients to endure otherwise painful procedures without the use of anesthetics.

Then law enforcement officials jumped into the act, using hypnosis to coax testimony from forgetful witnesses. That led to still more controversy when it was discovered that witnesses could easily, even accidentally, be led to “remember” things that never happened. That meant hypnosis was not a reliable tool for coaching witnesses for court testimony.

With all that going on, there were still those in the medical establishment who did not believe hypnosis was useful, or perhaps even real. Now, after all these years, the verdict of medical research is in: “Hypnosis works. We don’t know why.”

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Childhood bone cancer is a devastating and tragic disease. Despite the state of the art in current cancer treatment, bone cancer in children results in amputation for 80% of young patients.

But now there is hope. Promising new medical research in Britain, conducted on dogs (which suffer from a similar form of bone cancer) shows that it may soon be possible to use stem cells to cure bone cancer in children. For more information, read the following article.

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Spinal cord injuries in lab animals can now be treated with nano (microscopic) technologies that can improve healing and even reverse paralysis, according to researchers. Paralyzed mice have had full movement restored in only six weeks.

The U.S. government has spent over a billion dollars on nanotechnology research. The research is controversial, because not enough is known about side effects and what can happen if the tiny molecules escape into the environment.

However, the research results look promising. If treatment with nanotechnology proves equally successful on humans, many people who are now paralyzed could soon be able to lead normal lives again.

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